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Part 1
by Samuel E. Ward
June 5, 2011
Introduction
There is a difference between devotion to principles and devotion to a person. Hundreds of people today are devoting themselves to phases of truth, to causes. Jesus Christ never asks us to devote ourselves to a cause or a creed; he asks us to devote ourselves to him.
--Oswald Chambers (1874–1917)
When we willingly give ourselves over to God and His will we discover that this will is quite simply described for us in Romans 8:29.
(Rom 8:29 NIV) For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
Christ is the first of His kind, but He desires to give birth to many more just like Himself. This is a life-long learning process that begins with us coming to know Him and then revealing by our lives and words what we have come to know.
Yogi Berra, great Yankee's catcher and manager of years gone by, once said, "You can see a lot just by observing."[1] That is why I have chosen Matthew's gospel as the source of observing some key ideas about discipleship. We will learn these principles not from gathered verses or teaching necessarily given to teach about discipleship. We will observe them being and becoming disciples as they walk with and learn from Jesus. This will also show us what Jesus was like as a "discipler" or "trainer."
I. Ten Observations from Matthew about Disciples.
A. Disciples Learn from Jesus, Mat 5:1-2.
(Mat 5:1-2 NIV) Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, {2} and he began to teach them.
Jesus took advantage of "teachable" moments and situations. Jesus would break into a sermon just like some people break into a song. His disciples were always ready to listen.
B. Disciples Associate with Sinners, Mat 9:10-13.
(Mat 9:10-13 NIV) While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. {11} When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" {12} On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. {13} But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
Jesus worked "fertile" fields and did not waste much time on the self-righteous who had stuffed their spiritual needs so far down within themselves that they were not easily aroused to conviction. Not so with sinners who know they are sinners. What many of them need to know (and disciples need to minister to) is the message that there is a way out of their spiritual darkness. Disciples do not shun sinners; they shine on them with the Light of Jesus Christ.
C. Disciples Go Where Jesus Would Go, Mat 9:18-19, 36-38; 10:1.
1. Jesus always responded to the cries of the needy, as should all disciples of Jesus, Mat 9:18-19.
(Mat 9:18-19 NIV) While he was saying this, a ruler came and knelt before him and said, "My daughter has just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live." {19} Jesus got up and went with him, and so did his disciples.
2. Jesus always felt the hurt of the harassed and helpless and sought to go to them, as should all disciples of Jesus, Mat 9:36-38.
(Mat 9:36-38 NIV) When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. {37} Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. {38} Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."
3. Jesus always desired to enable those who would minister in His name, and all disciples should do so in Jesus' name, Mat 10:1.
(Mat 10:1 NIV) He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.
D. Disciples Expect Suffering and Persecution to Accompany Their Ministry Because Jesus Experienced It, Mat 10:23-26.
(Mat 10:23-26 NIV) When you are persecuted in one place, flee to another. I tell you the truth, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes. {24} "A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. {25} It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master.
If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household! {26} "So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.
Jesus' disciples were witnesses to the harassment and challenges that stemmed from Jesus' enemies. Disciples by association with Christ have a target spiritually imprinted on them and Satan knows that Jesus is hurt when any of His disciples are hurt. But Jesus reminds His disciples that their day of reckoning is coming. Oddly of enough, it will be on the same day as our resurrection! Just poetic justice is remarkably a divine design.
E. Disciples Live By The Spirit And Principle Of The Law Rather Than Its Strict Letter (which in itself can lead to breaking a greater law), Mat 12:1-4.
(Mat 12:1-4 NIV) At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. {2} When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath." {3} He answered, "Haven't you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? {4} He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread--which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests.
Perhaps you have heard of the drowning incident of a 52 year old man in Alameda, CA.
Posted on Wed Jun 01 2011 19:55:51 GMT-0500 (Central Daylight Time) by wac3rd
When a fully clothed, apparently suicidal man walked into the San Francisco Bay from Shoreline Drive, in Alameda County, all the would-be rescuers could do was watch. For about an hour.
Why their boots stayed dry was a matter of debate Wednesday, the day after 57-year-old Raymond Zack was pronounced dead at an Alameda County hospital.
The water's depth and temperature may have played a role. As did budget cuts.
The Alameda Fire Department's water rescue program was discontinued in 2009 because of budget cuts.
"(The) Alameda Fire Department does not currently have, and is not certified, in land-based water rescues. The city of Alameda primarily relies on the United States Coast Guard for these types of events," a police spokesperson said.
But the Coast Guard couldn't operate in water that shallow, according to their own statement. And the water was too deep for police and fire personnel.
At a hearing Tuesday evening, the policy that prevented trained people from intervening and rescuing people in distress was changed.
One man told the board during the meeting, "It just strikes me as unbelievably callous that nobody there with any sort of training couldn't strip off their gear, go in the water, and help this person."
Zack's body was recovered by an off-duty nurse who swam out 50 yards to get him.[2]
There are principles that stand behind every law that usually contain the intent of the law. The intent of any law should never be to allow greater harm or injury to come as a result of obeying said law.
In the matter of the disciples plucking and eating grain on the Sabbath, Jesus seems to be addressing His right to set aside the letter of the Law (if indeed any part of the Mosaic Law was broken) to allow His disciples nourishment during their travels. He is, after all, "the Son of Man . . . the Lord of the Sabbath." (Mat 12:8)
F. Disciples Live to Do the Will of Their Heavenly Father, Mat 12:49-50.
(Mat 12:49-50 NIV) Pointing to his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. {50} For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."
Jesus loves the world which is at odds with Him. But His disciples are His true family, more so than His blood relatives. His words are meant to show us how we must relate to Him if we desire the most intimate relationship possible with Him.
G. Disciples Are Inquisitive Concerning Truth, Mat 13:10-13.
(Mat 13:10-13 NIV) The disciples came to him and asked, "Why do you speak to the people in parables?" {11} He replied, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. {12} Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. {13} This is why I speak to them in parables: "Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
(Mat 13:36 NIV) Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field."
Other questions the disciples asked were:
1. They asked about His parables - Mark 4:10; 7:17
2. They asked about Elijah - Mark 9:11
3. They asked about their inability to cast out a demon - Mark 9:28
4. They asked about His teaching on divorce - Mark 10:10
5. They asked about the man born blind - John 9:2
6. They asked about the destruction of Jerusalem - Mark 13:1-4
Feel free as a disciple to ask questions! Be willing to seek the answer.
(2 Tim 3:16-17 NIV) All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, {17} so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
H. Disciples Stand Ready to Do What Jesus Asks Them to Do, Mat 21:1-3.
1. To do the physical chores of ministry, Mat 21:1-3
(Mat 21:1-3 NIV) As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, {2} saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. {3} If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away."
2. To do the spiritual service of ministry, Mat 10:5-8.
(Mat 10:5-8 NIV) These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. {6} Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. {7} As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near.' {8} Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.
I. Disciples Share the Lord's Table and the Proclamation of His Death Together, Mat 26:26-29
(Mat 26:26-29 NIV) While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body." {27} Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. {28} This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. {29} I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom."
(1 Cor 11:26 NIV) For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
J. Disciples All Have the Responsibility to Make More Disciples, Mat 28:18-20
(Mat 28:18-20 NIV) Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. {19} Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, {20} and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a disciple of Christ who knew of its joyous blessings and its sometimes tragic consequences.
[He was] a Christian pastor and theologian, was executed for contributing to a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler and resisting Germany's Nazi regime in other ways. By age 30 he had pastored German-speaking Protestant congregations in Spain and England, taught theology at Berlin University, and been silenced as a professor for teaching Christian non-cooperation with the totalitarian government. He later managed to hire on as a German intelligence agent but was arrested in 1943 for using the office to rescue Jews, recruit foreign support for the resistance and keep pastors of the anti-Nazi, underground Confessing Church out of the military. Among thousands implicated in Claus von Stauffenberg's failed 1944 attempt on Hitler's life, he was hanged in a concentration camp in Flossenbuerg three weeks before Hitler died.
We now know that he practiced what he preached in his book, The Cost of Discipleship, and other writings.
Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.
Salvation is free, ... but discipleship will cost you your life.
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/dietrich-bonhoeffer#ixzz1OLpe7p4a
Disciples of Christ must be willing to accept both. God's blessings are the reward of serving Christ and they include both those that temporal and those that are eternal. The tragic consequences inflicted upon disciples of Christ by the enemies of Christ are temporal and can never outweigh the blessings. We need to be willing to endure the costs of discipleship in order to receive the blessings
