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Our passage this morning is from
John 15 and we're looking at verses 1 to 8. I am the true vine and my father
is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does
not bear fruit he takes away and every branch that bears fruit
he prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean
because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me and
I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it
abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in me.
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.
If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away as a branch,
and dries up, and they gather them, and cast them into the
fire, and they are burned. If you abide in me, and my words
abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for
you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit,
so prove to be my disciples. Please be seated. He said, my father is glorified
by this, that you bear much fruit, and so you will prove that you
are my disciples. And so, my question is, is that
who is a disciple? What does he mean by this disciple
relationship? What is he talking about? Who
is a disciple? He said, by this you will prove
you are my disciples. Who is His disciples? His disciples
are those who are the called out ones of Jesus Christ. Today, we call ourselves Christians.
And it's such a broad term that anybody
who carries a New Testament in any translation would call themselves
Christian, but Christ has a more specific name for his followers. The word Christian is used in
the Bible three times, and it's the word Christianos, and it
means a follower of Christ. It means his followers. But there
is a much more descriptive word that is used throughout the New
Testament 274 times. And that word is mathetis. And that word is translated disciple.
And that word is defined as a close follower, a learner, and a pupil. But it's not just any learner
or pupil. It is one who is specifically
a learner or pupil of Jesus Christ. When he's saying these are my
disciples, my disciples. So anyone who is in Christ, Anyone
who is in Christ is a disciple. If you are in Christ, you are
his disciple. There is no such reality where
individuals know Christ and are not in him or are changed by
him. If you are in Christ, you are
following him and you are changed by him. That is the definition
of a disciple. You are his disciple if you know
him in this way. Jesus Christ is the one in whose
ways we are discipled. He is the one that we are meant
to be conformed to and learn of. But his means of doing this
is through his local assembly of believers, his assembly of
called out ones, the ecclesia, the church, the body of believers. Those whose lives are entirely
wrapped up in growing in him, those who are intentionally pursuing
conformity to Jesus Christ, those are his disciples. And know that
if you are in Christ, that is what he calls you as his disciple.
And that is who you are meant to be, is one who is changed
by the washing of water, by the word, by the work of the Holy
Spirit within you. So a disciple is one who is meant
to be intentionally pursuing conformity to Jesus Christ. that as you grow, you are looking
more and more like Him. You are reflecting His image. Discipleship is an eternal process. It is an intellectual process
that has eternal benefits, and they manifest themselves outwardly,
externally, and inwardly. and they're manifesting outwardly
because of what's happening inwardly. Before we go any further, as
we're defining who a disciple is, let's look at what a disciple
is not, who is not a disciple. Turn to Luke 18. He says, now a certain ruler
asked him saying, good teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal
life? So Jesus said to him, why do
you call me good? No one is good but one, that
is God. You know the commandments. Do
not commit adultery. Do not murder. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. Honor
your father and your mother. And he said, all these things
I had kept from my youth. So when Jesus heard these things,
he said to him, you still lack one thing. Sell all that you
have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in
heaven. Come and follow me. But when he heard this, he became
very sorrowful, for he was very rich. This man who was in a position
of authority, who was a moral man. From his youth, he says,
he's kept all these things. He's kept these laws. He says,
I'm not broken those things. I'm a good person. I think well
of myself. I think that according to your
standard, I have met all those things, these outward commandments. And he says, Well, he's also,
so he views himself as a moral person. He also views himself
as someone who is in authority. He's someone who says to go,
and people go, and come, and people come, and so he is in
some form of authority. He is a ruler. People look up to him. He's also
very wealthy. He's a rich, young ruler. Isn't
God impressed with that? He's rich. God's not impressed
with that. Jesus didn't say anything about
that other than sell and distribute and follow me. He says, follow
me. Be discipled by me. Be my disciple. Be this Mathaites person, the
disciple. Come and follow me. But when
he heard that, he became very sorrowful. He was unwilling. He was unwilling to follow the
Lord in obedience in that way. The rich young ruler, he was
a religious man. He was moral. He even desired
eternal life from the one, the source of life, Jesus Christ
himself. But he was unwilling to respond
in a positive way and become Christ's disciple. He was unwilling
to pay the cost of discipleship. The person who is not Christ's
disciple does not belong to him and he is not saved. The person
who is Christ's disciple confesses him as Savior and Lord. The moment a person confesses
Christ as Savior and believes on Him, places their faith in
Him, they are immediately saved, they are immediately justified,
they are immediately indwelt with the Holy Ghost, and they
are immediately made His disciple, immediately made His disciple. To not be Christ's disciple is
to not be His in any way. It's to not be His at all. But
to be Christ's disciple is to participate in the Lord's table,
which is one of the reasons we're meeting today, is to remember
what the price of our pardon and ransom cost the Lord of glory. By doing this, we are participating
in the symbol of the body and the blood of our Savior Jesus,
represented by this bread and this cup. Because we have participated
in the realities of His death on the cross because of Him giving
His body and shedding His blood. Now we will take of the cup and
the bread as a symbol to commemorate that and remember what he did
on our behalf. We have become recipients of
his grace and mercy through this shed blood on his giving of his
body. Let us remember and celebrate
that work. I'm gonna turn to John chapter
six. You can turn there as well. starting in verse 47. He says,
most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in me and has
everlasting life, I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the
manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which
comes down from heaven that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came
down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread,
he will live forever. And the bread that I shall give
is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world, he
says. And through communion, we're
celebrating some amazing truths, some facts. What this verse just
told us is that we are celebrating the fact that Jesus Christ gave
his body for us. He said. He is the bread. That I shall give, he says the
bread that I shall give is my flesh. We're celebrating the
fact that Jesus gave his body for us. We're also celebrating
the fact that we belong to Him. We are attached to Him in a very
intentional and meaningful way. Verse 52, he says, the Jews therefore
quarreled among themselves, saying, how can this man give his flesh
to eat? And Jesus said to them, most
assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son
of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. The words of our Savior. Whoever
eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will
raise him up in the last day. So we're celebrating the fact
that we belong to him. We belong to him in this way.
We're also celebrating the fact that we have a permanent union
with him. Look at verses 55 and 56. He
says, for my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks
my blood abides in me and I in him." This abiding means permanent
union. Think of what was just read earlier
from John 15 about he is the vine, we are the branches, and
God wants us to bear fruit, but we cannot bear any fruit unless
we are meaningfully attached to this vine. We have this permanent union
with him. And he is the source of life
that has given us life. 57 and 58 says, as the living
father sent me and I live because of the father, so he who feeds
on me will live because of me. This is the bread which came
down from heaven, not as your fathers ate the manna and are
dead. He who eats this bread will live
forever. He's the source of life and he's
given his life so that we can have abundant life and eternal
life. That is what we're celebrating. We're celebrating that fact in
communion. But it cost him. It cost him. Our abundant life or our life. Our eternal life does not begin
upon our clinical death here when our bodies cease to function. Our eternal life does not begin
at that point. Our eternal life began the day we became a disciple
by grace through faith. So do you belong to him? And
do you have permanent union with him? Do you have eternal and
abundant life through him? then I invite you to join us
in partaking of this communion. Join us in that. If you know
that you are his disciple, please join us in taking communion. But if you have doubts and question,
please let the cup pass. Let the cup pass. If you doubt
if you are truly his disciple or not, if you are not abiding
in him or attached to him in this way that we're talking about, This celebration is not for you yet,
but know that if you place your faith and your trust in Him,
He will save you. The worship team will have a
song as the elements are distributed here. And please take this time
as you worship to confess your sin, meditate on the truth of
God's providence and God's beautiful redemptive plan that God so loved
his world, or God so loved the world that he sent his only son. and praise God that his son came
and followed through and went to that cross and his body was
crucified on that cross and his shed blood is now that atonement
for our sin. Please worship now with the music,
with the worship. As calm on which the Prince of Peace My riches gay, I count the gloss. And pour content on all my pride. So sing from His head, His hands,
His feet, Sorrow and love flow me no doubt. It is such rush and sorrow me. So rich a pound. Oh, the wonderful cost. Oh, the wonderful cost. Is me come and die. Mine and
I may truly live it. my grace And were the whole realm of nature
mine, That were an offering far too
small, So amazing, so divine. Deep as my soul, my life, my
all. Oh, how wonderful cause. I truly live All who gather here, by grace
draw near and bless your day. Wonderful cross, all who gather
here, Thy grace draw near, and bless Your name. Oh, the wonderful cross, Lord,
how thankful people we are for your wonderful cross. Lord, it
brings us life. It brings us joy. It brings us
to you and in right relationship with you. When we were cast afar
off in darkness, while we were still sinners, Christ died for
us. Thank you, God, for the cross.
Thank you for this remembrance of the realities of your cross
and the facts of our celebration here today, God. I pray that
you bless this bread and bless this cup, Lord. In Jesus' precious
name, amen. Matthew 26, 26 says, and as they
were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it and broke it and
he gave it to his disciples and said, take, eat, this is my body. Then he took the cup and gave
thanks and gave it to them, saying, drink from it, all of you, for
this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the
remission of sins. For as often as you eat this
bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death until
he comes. We just celebrated being Christ's
disciples. We just celebrated the facts
of the realities of the new birth. We just celebrated the permanent
union that we have in Christ as his disciples. Now let us
examine the attributes of a disciple. What does it mean to be a disciple? And there's three things, and
if you were at the men's breakfast a couple weeks ago, we covered
these things there too. But you know what? The Lord's
message hasn't changed in two weeks. It hasn't changed in 2,000
years or for all of human history, and it is settled forever in
heaven. And thank the Lord that we don't
have to relearn it. But this was my challenge to
the men two weeks ago, is that through this passage in John
15, we're going to see that we need to know the Lord Jesus Christ,
and that we need to grow in the Lord Jesus Christ, and we need
to go in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in his authority.
But first things first, that we know. Read with me. Go back to John
15. We're gonna look at verses four
and five. He says, abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot
bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine. Neither can
you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in
him bears much fruit. For without me, you can do nothing. Without Christ, you can do nothing. This abiding, we touched on this
a little bit earlier when we were in John chapter six, when
we talked about abiding. It means to have this permanent
union with Christ. It is a strength that is difficult
for us to fathom, this permanent union that we have with Christ.
He's telling us to abide in Him. He is the vine, and we are the
branches, and He's telling us to bear fruit, and we can bear
no fruit as His branches unless we are attached to the vine,
attached to Him. So the question is, are you attached
to the vine? Are you safe in the Lord's hand,
the good shepherd? Flip back a couple pages with
me to John chapter 10. In verse 27 he says, my sheep
hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. We're his
disciples, we're following him. we know him this verse tells
us verse 28 says jesus says and i give them eternal life and
they shall never perish neither shall anyone snatch them out
of my hand jesus's strong hand almighty god author of all the
world he spoke everything into existence the almighty The one
who is stronger than any is holding us in his hand. We are held by
the good shepherd in his hand with a strength we cannot even
fathom. He will lose none of his own. He makes me to lie down in green
pastures. He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul. And he leads me in the paths
of righteousness. That is what this good shepherd
does, who is holding me with the strength that is I just can't
even fathom. That is what it means to have
permanent union with the Lord Jesus Christ, that we are abiding
in him and that we are meant to remain in him. And he says here back in John
15, he's telling us that the point of our abiding, the purpose
of our abiding, is that we would bear much fruit. We're bearing
fruit as one who knows the Lord and is abiding in Him. And there
is this initial knowing Him, and then there is a knowing Him
in that we desire to know Him more. But this initial fruit
that we're meant to bear is that we're to be in His word. How
else do we know this Lord of glory unless we are in His word
and we are abiding in His word? Are you daily in His Word? Are
you daily meditating on His Word, just thinking through the things
that you've read and the things that you've seen in His Word?
That's what meditation looks like, is just ruminating on the
truths of God, playing them over and over again in our mind so
that we can have a deep understanding of who He is. And are we daily
in prayer? Are we in fellowship? And do
we worship? This is a worship service. Do
you worship outside of these four walls? Do you sing with grace in your
hearts unto the Lord outside of these four walls that you
praise Him and you adore Him day by day? That is the fruit
in your life of knowing Him, of just knowing Him. 1 John 5, 11 through 13 says, and
this is the testimony that God has given us eternal life, and
this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life,
and he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to
you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know
that you have eternal life and that you may continue to believe
in the name of the Son of God. 1 John is such a beautiful book
for discernment. He tells us just flat out, he
that has the Son has life. He that does not have the Son
does not have life. If you have the Son, you are
his disciple. If you do not have the Son, you
are not His disciple. You do not belong to Him. You
are outside of the vine. You're not attached to the vine.
But to those who know the Son and have the Son, He says that
you may know that you have eternal life. And this is saying that
you may know, that you know, that you know. I mean, these
are things that you need to know. The Lord wants us to know. That's His promise, that we wouldn't
doubt So how do we know? Well, are we being changed into
his image? Can you look back on the person
you were the day that you placed your faith in Jesus Christ? Can
you look back on that day and say, I am not that person anymore?
Because the Lord saves us right where we are, but he has no intention
of leaving us there. Praise God for that. If we're
his disciple, we are being changed. into his image, and to know him,
to know him in this way is to be transformed into his image,
and that we can know that we know that we are his disciples. And as his disciple, you are
committed to following, loving, obeying, and conforming to him,
to conform to him. We are to know him personally
and not just have knowledge about him. Jesus doesn't seek to just
impart information. He seeks to awaken commitment
to his self. Think, he says in the Great Commission
to go and make disciples. He says don't just, they just
don't get saved and stay right where they're at. They grow and
mature into something that is similar to what you see in Christ,
that his ways are influencing their lives profoundly, profoundly. A disciple is pursuing conformity
and transformation, that we're no longer looking like the people
that we used to be. You cannot rightly know Jesus
without being eternally transformed and conformed to him. Romans
8.29 says, for whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed
to the image of his son. And this word conformed is very
simple. It just means to take on the
form of another, to just look like another, so that when you
see your brothers and sisters in Christ, you can see Christ
in them. When you look in the mirror and
challenge yourselves with that, Is Christ in me in that way?
Is Christ living in me that way? Is His attributes and His ways
manifested in my life in any way? We need to be challenged
with that, because we need to be taking on His form. If we
know Him, we will look like Him. This is what this says, is that
we are predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. Knowing Jesus is not just something
that happens when you begin to walk with him, but it is an ongoing
thing. Turn with me to Philippians chapter
three. Philippians chapter three. Beautiful verse here. Beautiful
passage. This is an ongoing thing that
takes place in the life of a believer. Let me start at verse one here.
He says, Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord, for in me
to write the same thing to you is not tedious, but for you it
is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil
workers, beware of the mutilation, for we are the circumcision who
worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no
confidence in the flesh. Though I also might have confidence
in the flesh, if anyone thinks he may have confidence in the
flesh, I more so. Okay? So Paul just challenged
every single person on this planet and has ever been born into this
world. He says, if anybody thinks that they have something to brag
about in self-righteousness, he said, get out of the way because
I more so. And he's going to give you a
list here. Verse five, circumcised the eighth day of the stock of
Israel of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, concerning
the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church,
concerning righteousness, which is in the law, blameless. The
man said he's blameless according to the law. That is a high statement. But what things were gained to
me, these things I have counted loss for Christ. He recognized
that these things have had no impact or no benefit in his relationship
with the Lord. The Lord confronted him on that
road to Damascus, and we read about in Acts chapter 9. The
Lord stopped him in his tracks when he had letters that made
it legal for him to bring people back to Jerusalem bound so he
could persecute them. People that were Christ followers,
his disciples, you guys. He would be after you guys today.
His disciples. And he says all these righteousnesses,
all these outward things that he lists in verses five and six,
he's saying these things are just a loss to me. Because Christ
interjected himself in his life and transformed him and made
him an entirely new person. And he said, all those things
that I trusted in before, they're just rubbish. I count them as
just garbage. Verse 80 says, yet indeed I count
all things lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus,
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count
them as rubbish that I may gain Christ. and be found in him,
not having my own righteousnesses, which is from the law, but that
which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from
God by faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection
and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death,
if by any means I may attain to the resurrection from the
dead. So what he's saying in this is
that he wants to know Christ personally, the one and only
true and living God who inhabits eternity, who spoke all things
into existence by the word of his power and the one and only
potentate King of kings and Lord of lords. He knows him. His disciples
know him. You know him if you are his disciple
and you want to know him more. And the more you get to know
him, the more you want to know him. Quick story in Exodus chapter
33, Moses is at the tabernacle. And when he went there, the people
came outside of their tents and stood there and the cloud was
there. And it said that Moses spoke
with God as with a friend. He spoke with God, read this
this week. He spoke with God as though a friend was talking
to him. Think of the intimate relationship going on there.
This is not just your, this is not an initial relationship encounter
with the Lord. This is someone who's walked
with God for a long time and has a mature relationship with
God and God is revealing himself to him and speaking to him as
a friend. And what does Moses say? Read
this this week. Moses says, show me your glory. Exodus 33, show me your glory. The more Moses got to know the
Lord, the more he wanted of him, and he couldn't have enough.
Show me your glory. But the Lord said, no man will
see my glory and live. Read it this week. I'm going
to leave it there. Blessed are those who hunger
and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Do
you have a desire in your heart to know him more, a yearning
to know him in such a greater way than you know him today?
That's what he's talking about here in verse 10 when he says
that I may know him, that I may know him. He says back in verse
eight that I may gain Christ. He's saying gain him in relationship
and gain him as Lord and Savior, as friend, as brother, He's gaining
him in his life. And to be found in him, think
of this, verse nine, not having my own righteousnesses. He gave
us the list of righteousnesses that, you know, who can compare
to that? He said, nobody can beat me out
on this list. And he said, but not having my
own righteousness, he says, that which is of the law. but that
which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from
God through faith, or from God by faith. And this righteousness
that he's talking about here is imputed righteousness, that
God looks at you through the blood of Jesus Christ and sees
you as sinless. He sees you as somebody that
is justified in his sight, declared not guilty in his eyes. because
of the imputed righteousness of Christ. He sees you through
Christ's blood. And going on here in Philippians
3 verse 12, he says, He says, but I press on that
I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold
of me. Think of this on what happened
to him in Acts chapter nine in his life when the Lord stopped
him in his tracks, when he was bound, when he was so just pursuing
Damascus and to persecute these Christians, he thought he was
doing God a favor. going there and doing that, but the Lord
stopped him in his tracks and says, Saul, Saul, why do you
persecute me? Isn't it hard to kick against
the goads? And he stopped him in his tracks and Saul's response
was that, Lord, he calls him Lord. He knew it was the one
and only true God, the creator of heaven and earth who stopped
him in his tracks. At that day, The Lord reached
down and laid hold of Saul, who will become Paul the apostle.
And what he's saying here is that he wants to reach back and
lay hold of that which laid hold of him. And this is the knowing
him that we're talking about, that the Lord has gotten a hold
of my life and apprehended me. And now I want to reach back
and apprehend that for which I have apprehended. That which
laid hold of me, I want to reach back up. and lay hold of. I want
to know him more. I desire that walk with him daily,
to know him that way. In verse 13 he says, Brethren,
I do not count myself to have apprehended But one thing I do,
forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward
to those things which are before." He's forgetting the list in verses
5 and 6. He's forgetting those outward
righteousnesses that he used to trust in, and he is pressing
forward to those things which are ahead. He says, I press toward
the goal for the prize of the upward call in Christ Jesus.
Did you know that we are all called to be disciples? We are called to be his disciples.
We are commanded and we are commissioned. And we are also commanded, called
and commissioned to make disciples. To make disciples. Being a disciple. is first about
knowing Him and abiding in Him. And it is your upward call of
God. It is the upward call of every disciple of Jesus. Okay,
turn back to John 15, verses 7 and 8 here. He says, if you
abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask what you
desire and it shall be done for you by this my father is glorified
that you bear much fruit so you will be my disciples so you will
be my disciples he says and i want to i want to hone in on one one
part of this is that he says if you abide in me okay we talked
about that if you know him in that way and you're attached
with to him in that way in this permanent union relationship
if you do that he says and my words abide in you and my words
abide in you and one amazing thing of this is the word that
he chose here for words because oftentimes when we hear the word
word in the new testament we think okay logos the personification
of the lord jesus christ but this is not the word logos this
is the word rima And this word Rima is referring specifically
to every single utterance that comes out of the mouth of God.
That means every one of his commands and every single testimony, every
word that's written in your Bible, specifically, every commission
and every calling, every word, that's what it means, every word,
Rima, every word. It's a spoken statement, it's
the content of what is said. Every individual utterance of
the Lord Jesus Christ, that is the word he's talking about here.
It's also the same word in Matthew 4.4 that says that man shall
not live by bread alone, but shall live by every word that
proceeds out of the mouth of God. Rima, his word, every word
that proceeds out of God's mouth is what we're talking about.
God's Word abides in His disciples. One true sign that we are His
disciples is that we hunger after His Word. Jeremiah 15, 16 says,
Your words were found, and I did eat them, and they were unto
me the joy and rejoicing of my heart. Isn't that a beautiful
statement from the Lord? Jeremiah 15, 16, your words were
found and I did eat them and they were unto me the joy and
rejoicing of my heart. If you are his disciple and his
word is abiding in you, what an encouragement that is to us.
What a beautiful, what a beautiful statement that is because we
identify with that. Your words were found. I ate
them up. They're in me. They're abiding in me. I love
them. I am your disciple and I love
your word. They were unto me the joy and
rejoicing of my heart. This is a heart check moment.
What is the thing that gives you the most joy and rejoicing? If you are his disciple, Jeremiah
is making it clear that his word is the joy and rejoicing of our
heart. This is a heart check that we need to do. What is the
joy and rejoicing? us. What is our joy and rejoicing? His disciples joy and rejoicing
is in his word. Jesus says in John 8 31, If you abide in my word, you
are my disciples indeed. God's word is abiding in his
disciples, and it is transforming the lives of his disciples. Romans
12, one and two says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the
mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice,
wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, and
do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing
of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable
and perfect will of God. We are transformed by the renewing
of our mind because, like I said earlier, the Lord saved us where
we were at, but he had no intention of leaving us there. And it takes
the renewing of our mind to remove those philosophies and vain ideas
that we had in there in the storehouses of our mind. And those need renewed. We need a renewing in that, and
they need to be brought afresh into the conformity of the Lord
Jesus Christ in His rhema, because we are abiding in His rhema,
every utterance, every utterance. We are transformed by the Spirit
of God, by the washing of water, by the Word, so that my desires
become His desires, and that my life reflects His life. 2
Corinthians 3.18 says a very similar thing. It says, but we
all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the
Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to
glory just as by the Spirit of the Lord. My new covenant, new
heart desires transformation. by God's Spirit, in loving obedience
to him, to bear his image as his disciple, I lay aside all
my personal ambitions to take on his commission, to be his
disciple, and to make disciples. That was the fault in the rich
young ruler who would not be his disciple, is that he would
not lay aside his ambitions. He had his kingdom to build.
Whose kingdom are we building? Our own or the Lord's? Be involved in His work, be conformed
to His image. Okay, that's grow. Now, the very last one here,
John 15 and verse 16. We've looked at know, grow, this
is go. I'm a musician, so I like to
rhyme. I don't need, that helps me is to rhyme. Verse 16, you
did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you
should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain
that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give you,
that you would go and bear fruit. To go and bear fruit is to be
the one who is attached to the vine, abiding in Him, and that
you are being a pattern of growth yourself. You know Him. You are
growing in Him, and now you are going in His name and in His
authority. Look over at Matthew 28. This
is the Great Commission, verses 18 to 20. It's so essential, Jesus started
this out by saying, all authority has been given to me in heaven
and earth, in Christ's authority, his authority, in his name. He says, go therefore and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe
all things that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always,
even into the end of the age, amen. This word that he says,
The central thrust of the Great Commission is that we make disciples. That word is mathētū. Mathētū. It's one word. We translate
it, make disciples. And it is the central command
here in the Great Commission. And it means to believe and to
learn. But it's not just believing and
learning anything. It's that you're believing and
learning from the one who has all authority. the one whose disciples we are.
He is speaking to all who exclusively believe in Him and are learning
from Him and conforming to His ways, conforming to His ways. Through the Great Commission,
God commands his called out ones, the ecclesia, his church, to
make disciples. We are to reproduce in others
what has taken place in us. That is our commission, is that
he's called us to preach the gospel and to come alongside
others and grow them in his ways. Grow them in his ways. And that
we're meant to be grown in him. Who is qualified for this? Who
is even qualified to make a disciple? The scripture tells us. I see
scripture telling us that everyone who is his disciple is qualified
for this. He says in Acts 1 in verse 8,
he says, you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon
you. And you shall be witnesses to
me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of
the earth. If you are in Christ, you are
his disciple, you are immediately indwelt with the Holy Spirit.
You have that Holy Spirit in you that you can be this person
who is a disciple maker. You have all authority to preach
the gospel to those around you. So what does this look like in
our local church? In Hayden Bible Church, what
does it look like within this assembly of called out ones?
And we're just overlaying what scripture commands us into our
local expression of his body. And scripture commands us that
we're given an example. We're given an example of a pattern
of having someone in our life that we're looking up to and
being discipled by. Someone who, when questions arise,
that we can just directly go to that one and find help in
our time of need. That person that we would refer
to as a Paul in our life. Because there's a relationship
that we see here in scripture that there is a Paul and there
is a Timothy. That the Paul is the person who
is speaking God's truth into our life and instructing in the
word. He's encouraging us toward the
intentional pursuit and conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ. The
Timothy is the one who is being instructed. Again, stirred up
and instructed in the word. Stirred up unto love and good
works. God's design is that we be disciples and we make disciples.
Look here in 1 Corinthians 4, 14 to 17. It says, I do not write
these things to shame you, but as my beloved children, I warn
you, for though you might have 10,000 instructors in Christ,
you do not have many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, I have begotten
you through the gospel. Therefore, I urge you, imitate
me. For this reason, I have sent
Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord,
who will remind you of my ways in Christ as I teach everywhere
in every church. You know, he says here in verse
15, he says, he mentions instructors. You have 10,000 instructors.
You have 10,000 people in your life who want to just who want
to just talk to you about the facts, you know, and they just
want to talk to you about the knowledge. They're not helping
you in your walk. They're not helping you dig deep
into the truths of God and actually helping you apply these things
into your manner of life so that your conduct is actually being
transformed and conforming to this truth. Instructors are people
who are just putting information out there. He's saying you have
10,000 people in your life who are just putting information
out there, but you don't have many fathers. You don't have
many people in this relationship of this Paul-Timothy relationship.
Look at, my men's group is going through the book of Proverbs
right now, and right now, chapters one through nine, almost every
single chapter, and sometimes multiple places in the chapter,
it's Solomon saying to his son, he's saying, my son, hear me,
hear the instruction of the word of God. And he's, it's this relationship
of this discipleship relationship of that, this tutoring relationship,
he's saying, it's the shema. He's using that same Hebrew word,
shema. hear, hear this, hear the words
of God. And it's for the sake of being
transformed and being conformed to the image of our Lord. Not
that we're just soaking up information. That's not the point. It's not
about information. And he's saying, he says, you
have all these people that are instructing you, but not many
fathers, not many who are actually coming alongside you and loving
you in relationship toward God and actually showing you how
this applies and how this actually works out in your life. But a
father does. Paul was that person to Timothy.
And now Paul is sending Timothy to be that person to many of
the people that Paul knows here. And what a beautiful thing that
is, is because he wants, you know, the command is to make
disciples. It's not just to leave people
and fill them with information. Paul says that, he says, I urge you to imitate
me. Many other places in scripture, he says, imitate me as I imitate
Christ. He says, follow me as I follow
the Lord. The purpose of the Paul and Timothy
relationship is that we help one another walk closer to God,
that we walk closer with Jesus every single day. It's not enough
that we're hearers only. We need to be doers of what God
says. We need to be walking in the
things that he says and not just agreeing with him, giving mental
assent to the things that he says. We need to be living them
out. We need to be living them out.
So how do we find these people in our lives? By God's grace,
this is happening among us. This happens among us already
here at HBC, but we must see these things increase and abound.
We need to be intentional about these things so that we are not
losing out on the blessing of being instructed by one and having
a more fruitful relationship with the Lord, and that we actually
get the privilege of shepherding a heart closer in love to Jesus. by his word. How do we do this? The Lord will put people on your
heart. The Lord will put a person on
your heart, a Paul and a Timothy, he will put on your heart, and
do not ignore that. That is the Lord's leading. The Lord is leading
you and guiding you and directing you by putting that person on
your heart. Do not ignore that. He also talks about here in 1
Corinthians there's this there's this one another well not on
first corinthians there's this one another aspect that we also
need to talk about is the communion of the saints is that john 13
35 says by this all will know that you are my disciples all
will know that you are his disciples if you love one another if you
love one another there's one another aspect the communion
of the saints Hebrews 10, 24, and 25 also speaks to this one
another. He says, let us consider one
another to stir up to love and good works. And this consider,
it means this. It means to render help and counsel
to this person's life. Consider one another. It's not
just that you're thinking about them, it's that you're actually
rendering a help in their life. And stirring them up, he says,
to love and good works. Think of how amazing it is when
you get together with a brother or sister in Christ and you are
just somehow like energized, right? To go and take on the
gates of hell with a squirt gun. Because this person has just
encouraged you beyond anything that you know or could have been
encouraged with that day. Because they're affirming their
love for Jesus, you're affirming your love for Jesus, and you
realize, hey, I'm not the only one here. And just like Elijah
thought he was the only one left, but there was 7,000 that the
Lord had that he just didn't see. He just didn't have eyes
to see that. He says, let us consider one another to stir
up to love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves
together as is the manner of some. Don't forsake this assembling
together that we're talking about. What a blessed grace, means of
grace that God has given us in the one another relationships
that we get to have. He says, exhorting one another,
and so much more as you see the day approaching. Exhorting one
another means that you're actually teaching God's truth into their
life, that you're actually saying, you know what, the word of God
says this, and let's commit to walk in that way together. Let's
just walk together in that way. We're to stir up in love and
good works. Quickly, 1 Samuel 23, 16, this chapter is talking
about when David was fleeing from the king, Saul. and Jonathan
is well let me just read it says Jonathan's Saul's son arose and
went to David in the woods and strengthened his hand in God.
Jonathan came alongside his dear brother in the Lord David and
here David was at a low point in a valley in his life that
he did not see, he couldn't see the way out of. He was under
great distress. He's being pursued by the king
of Israel and all of the power and pomp that follows with that.
And here he's one guy fleeing from that. But it says that Jonathan
Saul's son arose and went to David in the woods and strengthened
his hand in God. One person. Think of the difference
that one person made in his life. Think of the difference you can
make in someone's life and the difference that someone makes
in your life. It's that same thing. The fellowship
David and Jonathan had was a huge encouragement to David to be
able to press on in obedience to God and confidence gained
only by spurring one another on to love and good works. So what does all this mean for
us? How do we apply this? What is God's will and commission
and calling and command for us in all this? Well, it's been
stated already is that we must be his disciples, that we abide
in the vine. We are the branches that must
bear fruit and we can only bear fruit by abiding in him, by being
attached to him. We have to be his disciples to
know him and desire more to know him more. and that we grow in
Him, because we don't know everything. Our sanctification process does
not end until the day we go home to glory. We must continue to
grow in Him, and that we go in His mission that He's commissioned
and commanded and called us to go do, which is to make disciples. We're to be His disciples and
to make disciples. We want to be intentional about
that. If you feel insufficient in making
disciples, please know that you are not alone. Please know that
everything, quite often, I shouldn't say everything, but the Lord,
what the Lord commands us to do, we feel insufficient for
because We can only do it in His strength alone. It's not
in my power. It's not in who I am or what
I've accomplished. You know, things that, successes
that I view as successes, or like Paul's list of righteousnesses.
It's not based on those things. It's not because of those things
that therefore I get to go make disciples. No, it's because I'm
insufficient for the task and I rely on the Holy Spirit and
God's word to help me, to help me accomplish what he has commanded
and called and commissioned me to do. 2 Timothy 1.7 says that God has
not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and
of a sound mind. God will provide you with what
you need to fulfill his great commission. So we must know Christ and grow
in Christ and go in mission in Christ's name. God has called,
commanded, and commissioned us to be his disciples and make
disciples, something we are already doing here at HBC, but it must
increase and abound for his purposes of making us a functional, mature,
intentional pursuit follower of Jesus Christ. Making disciples
is the foremost purpose of the blood-bought, born-again believer
in Jesus Christ. These are the doings of Jesus'
disciples. If you have any question or interest
in any of these things that we talked about today, please come
see me. My great privilege is to be the
discipleship pastor here, and the Lord has called me to do
such a thing, and I praise God every day for that. And I'm here
to help and provide on-ramps, but I want to follow the Lord's
leading and the Lord's command and commission and calling in
that. I hope you do too. May the Spirit of God be pleased
to cultivate a discipleship mindset and normalize this behavior at
HBC. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, God, we love
you. God, we thank you for your spirit which guides us and directs
us. And Father, we are privileged to be your people. Lord. Thank
you for calling us to this task of being your disciples, Lord,
that we get to know you and love you every day. Father, thank
you for Jesus, our Savior, for the celebration that we had of
participating in communion and taking of the cup and the bread
as a remembrance for what it cost you for us to be your disciple. And Father, we're so grateful
to you for this eternal life that we get to experience today
and from every day forward because we belong to you and are attached
to you, we are permanently attached to you because we abide in you,
Father. Lord, help us to honor you with our doings, help us
to be disciples and make disciples, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.
The Disciples Commission
| Sermon ID | 825241943343203 |
| Duration | 1:08:30 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | John 15:1-8 |
| Language | English |
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