The Call to Discipleship I

Rev Peter Tsukahira
24-08-2019

We usually frame visions in numerical terms because they are measurable.

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." (Chinese proverb)

How do you start? You have to start making disciples. What is to us a disciple and how many disciples do we have?

Jesus gave us a model for making disciples.

You need at least 10 people who know how to walk in the Lord if you think of a community of 100,000 people. We need 10,000 real disciples.

What are the steps that need to be taken to produce these 10,000 disciples? Accidents happen and they are not good ones. Producing things and getting things done is about planning and execution. You have to start taking that first step to produce the end results.

What is a disciple? What is the power and the identity of a disciple and the path for a disciple? It is not a methodology. It is revelational. Our real teacher is the Holy Spirit. 

According to John the Baptist:

John 3:27 New King James Version (NKJV)
27 John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.

A disciple is someone who's trained by the Lord and is developing a lifestyle of following the Lord. The words of God have become habitual to them and they follow them on a sub-conscious level. Discipleship is the goal, purpose and core. Evangelism is the by-product of discipleship. The Spirit of truth sets you free to see the core and not just the outside.

Leaders and prophets in the Bible have disciples. They took them under their wings and passed on those truths in younger leaders. Moses' disciple was Joshua. Elijah's disciple was Elisha and he had chutzpah.

Of course, Jesus had the 12 (1 was a failure and He focused on the 11). He's transformed these guys from ordinary people and molded them into world-changers. He invested in them all the time. The disciples came to Him privately (Matthew 24).

Isaiah 50:4-5 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
4 The Lord [a]God has given Me the tongue of disciples,
That I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word.
He awakens Me morning by morning,
He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.
5 The Lord God has opened My ear;
And I was not disobedient
Nor did I turn back.

Disciples are, first and foremost, people who listen to the Lord and be obedient and not turn back. They hear and they do and then they come back and listen some more. This kind of lifestyle takes discipline. They sit at the Master's feet and they listen.

As the Holy Spirit sinks in to you and obedience to the Lord becomes a sub-conscious lifestyle, then you are able to have the tongue of the disciple.

Matthew 10:24-25 New King James Version (NKJV)
24 “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25 It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house [a]Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household!

You identify with Jesus with His values. You never try to get better than the Lord. The parameter of success is when you personally get the point of maturity to get another person to where you are. Never think to get someone to go beyond you. Then they don't need you anymore and leave you behind. If you can bring a person to your level and then leaves you, you've got your reward in heaven.

We're all called to be disciples and we're all called to make disciples.

In order to have that, you have to have those people. Disciple people to be able to use their gifts and other people as disciples try to get to that fellow.

But you can't make a disciple out of someone you don't know.

The difficult part of discipleship is correction. You have to have a pure heart of humility so get rid of the ugly stuff in your life. You can say that to someone that you know and you can make an impact.

Most of us get disciples by accident. But we need a plan to find that person and bring them up, at least to that level. It is a painful process but it is a glorious process. The joy of the Lord in someone else's achievement is boundless. Jesus spent time with the disciples. He only took three years to spend time with very ordinary people and made them giants. It is small, it is difficult but it is fruitful. The more of the core succeeds, it is sustainable. It is small and difficult but it is powerful.

Luke 10:16-20 New King James Version (NKJV)
16 He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me.”

The Seventy Return with Joy
17 Then the [a]seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.”

18 And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. 20 Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but [b]rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.”

Jesus said these to the 70.

Disciples are called and mandated to create other disciples.

Ephesians 4:12 New King James Version (NKJV)
12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the [a]edifying of the body of Christ,

Religion is central and vital. We need to get the religious part of the Kingdom right. Ie. How to worship, how to pray.

But 90% of us are called to be professionals somewhere else.

A factory is not about the quantity; it is about the quality of your output.

Matthew 28:18-20 New King James Version (NKJV)
18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go [a]therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” [b]Amen.

You became disciples. Now go and make others disciples.

They taught, they preached, they made sacrifices. 2,000 years later we can thank God for their obedience.

John 17:4-5 New King James Version (NKJV)
4 I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. 5 And now, O Father, glorify Me together [a]with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.

When He prayed this prayer, Jesus hasn't been to the cross. But He said to the Father, "I've finished," it was all about His disciples.

John 17:6-10 New King James Version (NKJV)
Jesus Prays for His Disciples
6 “I have [c]manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 7 Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. 8 For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me.

9 “I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. 10 And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them.

Then at the end of the prayer, He prays for all of us.

John 17:20-21 New King James Version (NKJV)
Jesus Prays for All Believers
20 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who [j]will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.

Now Jesus is ready to go home.

Matthew 13 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Jesus Teaches in Parables
13 That day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea. 2 And [a]large crowds gathered to Him, so He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach.

3 And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow; 4 and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. 6 But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. 7 Others fell [b]among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. 8 And others fell on the good soil and *yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. 9 He who has ears, [c]let him hear.”

An Explanation
10 And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”

There was perhaps frustration and irritation when the disciples asked Jesus that question.

That crowd was everybody they knew. Obviously they had come there specifically to listen to Jesus. The disciples probably convinced them to come. They would have been happy if Jesus included a miracle or two. They wanted Him to convince them. But what He told them sounded like an agricultural story. The crowd walked away scratching their heads unconvinced.

Matthew 13:11-23 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
11 [d]Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. 12 For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. 13 Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 [e]In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,

‘[f]You will keep on hearing, [g]but will not understand;
[h]You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive;
15 For the heart of this people has become dull,
With their ears they scarcely hear,
And they have closed their eyes,
Otherwise they would see with their eyes,
Hear with their ears,
And understand with their heart and return,
And I would heal them.’

16 But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. 17 For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

The Sower Explained
18 “Hear then the parable of the sower. 19 When anyone hears the [i]word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road. 20 The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the [j]word, immediately he [k]falls away. 22 And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the [l]world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 23 And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.”

In the few that dared, they more than made up. Jesus was talking about the disciples that they had been intended and chosen by God because their hearts were the good grounds who obeyed and in time they would have been fruitful. He spoke to the crowd for the sake of His disciples. Jesus was in Capernaum for three years doing miracles and healing people but the town people never repented. There's a big difference between sitting in the audience and sitting at the feet of Jesus. Lord, please help me to come out of the crowd and follow. With people like that, Jesus can build through our successes and failures to bring us to a place of fruitfulness and leadership. Bring some people alongside and make them at least like you are. Get some people able to do what you do. The disciples bring the growth and establish the kingdom and able to go to heaven.

This is the central issue of the kingdom of God.

RELATED:
BLINK THEOLOGY (ROMANS 9-11)

THE CALL TO DISCIPLESHIP (I)

THE PATH TO DISCIPLESHIP (II)

THE POWER OF DISCIPLESHIP (III)

THE SHAPE OF THE MOVEMENT OF GOD AND THE FOUNDATIONAL NATURE OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 

FINDING YOUR GIFT AND DESTINY IN GOD'S KINGDOM