INTRODUCTION:

In preschool and primary grade levels the word is often changed.  Instead of the word disciple, Bible lessons for very young children often talk about Jesus’ helpers.  Are you Jesus’ helper?

Children get a little older and disciples go from being helpers to being followers.  That term has a tendency to make people wonder, “Have I been following very closely after Jesus or have I been falling behind?”  Are you Jesus’ follower?

In the passage that we call The Great Commission, Jesus gives the instruction to make disciples of all nations.  Forty years ago, the Bible that most American Christians used said, “Go, ye, therefore, and teach all nations.”  A disciple is one who is taught, one who learns from a master.  Are you Jesus’ disciple?

There isn’t any big difference between being a believer and being a disciple.  Disciples of Christ trust that Jesus is going to tell them what they need to know and lead them where they need to go.  Disciples of Christ spend their days listening to him, learning from him and living for him.  When they hear the invitation to follow him, they understand that he’s talking about a 24/7 kind of arrangement, where he teaches and leads and they trust and learn.  The invitation reaches you again today.  Jesus says, “Follow me.”

Where Will Following Jesus Take You Today?

It will take you to his Word, where you get to know him.  Philip and Nathanael knew about Jesus before they met him.  Moses had written about Jesus in the promises that were spoken to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in the animal sacrifice laws that pointed to the sacrifice of Jesus, the Lamb of God, in the Day of Atonement that pictured Jesus as the scapegoat carrying everyone’s sins away.  David spoke of the death of Jesus (Psalm 22) and the resurrection of Jesus (Psalm 16).  All the prophets spoke of Jesus, then John the Baptist did, and Philip and Nathanael had been listening.  They’d been reading, learning, looking for the sin-eliminator and the people-saver, and then there he was, calling them to follow him.

Disciples of Jesus are students of Jesus.  Students of Jesus study about Jesus.  The textbook for that study is the Word of God, spelled BIBLE.  So which teachings are holding our attention these days?  Have we been learning and listening as disciples of JESUS or soaking up everything we can as disciples of MSNBC or ESPN or HGTV or NASCAR or MP3 on IPOD or XM Satellite Radio – all of which are fine, but which broadcast matters most?

Lord, inside me is the sin of being a lazy disciple, too caught up with everything that wants my attention and to stuck on me, myself and I to listen to you and learn from you as I ought.  Lord, there’s a mute button on my Bible and I’ve pushed it far too often and left it that way far too long.  My God, my God, why have you not forsaken me?

And Jesus says, Follow me to Psalm 22.  He forsook me instead of you.  Follow me to John 1:29.  I’m the Lamb of God who took away the sin of the world, including all of yours.  Follow me to Leviticus 16.  I’m the scapegoat.  You sinned – I paid for it.  Where will following Jesus take you today?  It will take you to his word, where you get to know him as the Son of God who became the Lamb of God, the King of Kings who became the Prince of Peace.  We had 51 last Sunday in the Bible Information Class between services.  We have seats for 197 more.  There and elsewhere Jesus is calling, “Follow me.  Get to know me better all the time.  Introduce me to a friend.”

As you have the opportunity to do that, you have an outstanding example before you today of how to go about it.  It is so easy for two people to get all wrapped up in age-old arguments, long-standing issues people have with church/organized religion and emotionally-charged issues covering every topic under the sun that they could go on and on for hours without ever mentioning the name of Jesus.  Nathanael had some doubts about the Savior of his soul being from Nazareth, but his friend Philip side-stepped the controversy, kept the focus on Jesus and said three words.  “Come and see.”  Where will following Jesus take you today?  To your friends, where you get to share him.  “I learn about God’s love for me from Jesus.  I’d love to show him to you.  Come and see.”

I would extend that invitation to you once more today.  Come along for just a few more minutes and see something about Jesus that’s more impressive and more thrilling than his omniscience (knowledge of all things), his omnipotence (unlimited power) and his omnipresence (present everywhere) combined!

Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, was running for his life from an angry brother who wanted to kill him.  As he slept under the stars one night, God gave him a vision of a stairway or ladder that reached to heaven.  The Lord was at the top and angels were going up and down the stairway.  “Jacob, your sins have gotten you in trouble with your brother and with me, but I’m here with you.  I’m the God who forgives you and I won’t ever abandon you.”

As you follow Jesus and look at the days of his life, there were angels in the picture every day.  They just couldn’t be seen.  Twice we hear about them (after the temptation in the desert and in Gethsemane the night before he died) but they were always there, serving Jesus, strengthening Jesus, bringing his needs before God, delivering God’s help to him, so that while he lived in a world of peer pressure and sinful self-indulgence and temptations of every kind he might remain holy, so that when it was time to be slaughtered for sinfulness he didn’t have and sins he didn’t commit, he would be strengthened to willingly walk into that horrific death chamber.  Following Jesus and seeing all of that was heaven for a sinner named Nathanael.  Everything Jesus said and did opened wide for his disciples the very door of heaven.

As you follow Jesus, there’s something much greater about him than the fact that he could tell you things about you that only you could know.  It’s the fact that knowing everything about you as he does, he still lived and died for you, to swing heaven’s door wide open for you.  Where will following Jesus take you today?  To heaven, where you’ll get to see him.  To get you from this moment in time to the blessed moment that you cross over the threshold into the presence of God, Jesus calls out, “Follow me.  I’ve opened the door of heaven for you.  Now hold onto me and don’t let go because I’m going to take you through it.”

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