What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus?

A. Disciple means: “student,” “pupil,” “apprentice,” or “adherent,”

To the Greek and Jews discipleship “referred to imitating the teacher’s life, inculcating his values, and reproducing his teachings.

For the Jewish boy over thirteen this meant going to study with a recognized Torah scholar, imitating his life and faith, and concentrating on mastering the Mosaic Law as well as the traditional interpretations of it.”

B. Discipleship as a Call to Personal Commitment to Jesus

1. The Call: To Be With Him and To Know Him

2. The Goal: To Enjoy Him and Become Like Him

a. 1Co 11:1 NKJV

(1) Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.

b. 1Jn 3:16 NKJV

(16) By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

c. the goal of the Christian life or the life in Christ is Christ likeness in our attitudes and behavior (Eph 5:25; 1John 3:16-18; John 8:29; 1John 2:29) (PCT pg. 408)

1. demonstrated or seen

a) when we are filled with the Fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal 5:22-23)

1) Joh 15:5-8 NET.

(5) "I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me -- and I in him -- bears much fruit, because apart from me you can accomplish nothing.

(6) If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown out like a branch, and dries up; and such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, and are burned up.

(7) If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want, and it will be done for you.

(8) My Father is honored by this, that you bear much fruit and show that you are my disciples.

b) when we are righteous and holy in our behavior (1John 2:29; 1Pet 1:15)

2. Christ-like Character (Gal 5:22-23; John 13:1; Eph 5:25; John 15:11; 14:27; 18:11; Matt 26:39, 42; John 5:6-9; 1 Pet 2:23 )

3. a change in our daily lifestyle: words, thoughts, attitudes, motives and actions

a) Jesus is revealed in our lives by the fruit of the Holy Spirit

b) Gal 5:22-24 NKJV

(22) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

(23) gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

(24) And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

d. 1Jn 2:6 NKJV

(6) He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

a. “walk”- to live

b. we must live the same way Jesus lived

2. so, the best way we can learn to be like Jesus is by studying and imitating His life

3. then, we will discover ways we can work out our salvation, pursuing purity, holiness, godliness, righteousness 17 pg 361, 209, 386, 398:

e. Making Moral behavioral changes

f. Separation from sinful things

g. Commitment to God (Rom 12:1-2)

C. Discipleship as a Call to Follow Jesus

1. call to be with, to know and enjoy the Master.

a. pre-requisite: Salvation

1. a person has believed in Christ as Lord and Savior and continues to believe in Him.

2. He demands exclusive, complete, and unflinching obedience to Himself.

a. The Demand: an all-or-nothing summons, reaching into every area of our lives.

b. It involves giving him preeminence over the closest of our human relationships and over the desires we have for our lives.

3. Luk 9:23-25 NKJV

(23) Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.

(24) For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.

(25) For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?

4. Luk 14:25-35 NKJV

(25) Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them,

(26) "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.

(27) And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.

(28) For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it--

(29) lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him,

(30) saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'

(31) Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?

(32) Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace.

(33) So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.

(34) "Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?

(35) It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"

a) setting aside and leaving behind everything that is first place in our lives other than Jesus (v. 26-27, 33; Matt 6:24)

1) placing Jesus above all possessions (Luke 14:33; 12:33)

2) placing Jesus above all people (Luke 14:26; Matt 5:44; Mk 12:31)

3) love Jesus more than anything/one (Matt 10:37)

4) placing Jesus above ourselves (v.26)

1) willing to give up, surrender, anything to do His will (Rom 12:1)

b) taking up the cross (v.27): symbol of humiliation and death

a) denying self

b) no longer under Satan, sin, or the world system’s authority (Rom 6:14; Col 1:13; Gal 6:14)

c) counting the cost or requirement (v.28-35)

1) salvation is God’s gift but it demands the total life commitment of the believer (PCT 395)

D. The demand of Jesus’ call to discipleship is impossible for a human being, unaided, to fulfill.

1. We must have resources to accomplish this kind of life. (Matthew 11:28-30; John 15:5-8)

2. Works do not necessarily prove a person’s salvation (Bible.org: Common Assaults on the Gospel)

a. the may give evidence of a new life and fellowship with Jesus

g. love should be the motivating factor for fruit

E. The Promise

1. Mar 10:29-30 NKJV

(29) So Jesus answered and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My sake and the gospel's,

(30) who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time--houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions--and in the age to come, eternal life.

2. Jesus will reward us when He returns for our investment in Him and His work on earth (Matt 16:27; Rom 2:16; Gal 6:7-9; Eph 6:8)

a. 2Co 5:9-10 NKJV

(9) Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.

(10) For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

1) not moral good and moral evil; but things that are worthwhile, eternal verses those that are useless (JMSB)

b. 2Ti 4:7-9 NKJV

(7) I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

(8) Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.

(9) Be diligent to come to me quickly;

c. Rom 14:10-12 NKJV

(10) But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

(11) For it is written: "AS I LIVE, SAYS THE LORD, EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW TO ME, AND EVERY TONGUE SHALL CONFESS TO GOD."

(12) So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.

F. Discipleship as a Call to “Make Disciples”

1. Mat 28:18-20 NKJV

(18) And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.

(19) Go 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." Amen.

Application

Before you can be a disciple of Jesus you must be saved from the penatly of your sin and have a personal relationship with Him. If you want to start a relationship with God all you have to do is agree with God that you have sinned and need a Savior and trust that Jesus died to pay for your sin. Every one of us was born condemned, guilty, relationally and spiritually separated from God, sentenced to hell.

We are born with a sin nature, bent toward evil. God says sin is any thought or attitude, act or failure to act, that displeases Him. All sin everywhere must be paid by someone somewhere; it is paid either by the sinner or by Christ.