INTRODUCTION:

Any time we talk about discipleship it’s natural to think of those first twelve disciples. While they started out so seemingly ignorant and immature, after a good amount of time with Jesus and a great deal of exposure to his teachings and a strong dose of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, they ended up as staunch confessors of Christ.  A stroll through the book of Acts indicates that all the apostles were ready to die rather than to deny or disown Jesus.  James, the brother of John, was beheaded by King Herod.  Tradition says that Peter was crucified upside down.  Paul was executed (very likely beheaded) in the days of the Roman emperor Nero. 

There are places in the world today where being a Christian can easily cost you your life.  That hasn’t been the case very much or at least very noticeably in the U.S., but it is an appropriate question to consider as we talk about discipleship for a second time in two weeks.  What is there that so completely wins a person to be a disciple of Jesus and makes a person so committed to his cause that he or she would be willing to die rather than deny or disown Jesus?  Have you come across whatever it is that would do that, whatever it is that would make you willing to lay down your life in testimony to the fact that only Jesus is the way and the truth and the life?  Let’s talk -

Once More On Discipleship

Jesus won disciples in a very straightforward way.  He told them there was good news and bad news, but he didn’t necessarily ask them which one they wanted to hear first. 

The bad news is very bad... God sees, knows and detests every wicked thing about you!  So what’s the worst thing that could ever happen to you, the worst thing you could ever imagine hearing?  In recent times I would have to believe that being a tsunami victim a year ago comes close to being the worst thing imaginable.  All of you have been touched by the grief of a friend or loved one who has died.  Some of you know what it’s like to be devastated by the death of a spouse or the untimely death of a child.  Perhaps even beyond that devastation are some of the images of the tsunami survivors.  To look into some of their faces was almost as if you were looking at a ghost, as if the person weren’t inside the body anymore, so devastated were they by the catastrophic and immediate loss of spouse, children, extended family, home, possessions, livelihood, neighbors and their entire community.  Those were the faces of devastation.

There is bad news of that kind of proportion, the most catastrophic news a person could ever hear – my sinful thoughts and behavior of yesterday and this morning (not to mention all my yesterdays) have incurred the wrath of God.  That’s a devastating truth that leaves me as an empty, hopeless shell of a human being.

It also makes the good news very good... Jesus saw and assumed and suffered for every wicked thing about you.  So what’s the best thing that could ever happen to you?  It has to be something better than winning the lottery doesn’t it – we can’t use that example every week.  There is something better than a $14M home in Malibu, isn’t there?  What if God FedEx’d the package to your front door that contained the cure for aids, alzheimers, asthma, cancer, chronic pain, migraines, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, paralysis, Parkinsons and ten other ravaging illnesses and it cured you and you were able to deliver those cures to the world?  Would that be joy?

There is good news of that proportion, the most exhilarating news a person could ever hear – my sinful thoughts and behavior of yesterday and this morning (and all my yesterdays) were lifted off me and laid on Jesus.  The wrath of God zeroed in on Jesus’ cross and not on me.  I will never die!  In Jesus, I will never die!  Whoever lives and believes in him will never die!  Top that!

That’s what there is that so completely wins a person for Jesus and makes a person so committed to his cause that he or she would be willing to die rather than deny or disown Jesus.  There’s good news and there’s bad news, but the good news wins out.  Be crushed over sin but believe the good news – Jesus abolished sin.

That message and the call to follow him turned uneducated fishermen into some of the boldest and best witnesses for Jesus this world has ever seen.  Will the good news of pardon, hope and life through Christ do more than thrill you?  Will it change you?

After God changes us from unbelievers to believers, one of the most basic changes that he brings about is the recognition, “My life is not my own.”  It’s one of those truths that we could probably repeat out loud ten times just so it hits home.  My life is not my own.  God’s purpose in bringing you into the family of believers is to have you live for him and not for yourself.  It’s no longer, “What goals do I have for my life?  What would I like to accomplish before my days come to an end?”  It’s, “What goals does God have for my life?  How would he like to use me?”

One of the many purposes God has for you is that you be the light of the world for people who are in the dark as far as God’s love for them is concerned.  Or, as Jesus put it to people who were fishermen by trade, “It’s time to fish for people.”  There can be no debating that that is one of the ways God would use you – to lead people into the enjoyment of the same good news about Jesus that you enjoy.  He’s very clear about it.

But he’s also completely responsible for it.  “I will make you fishers of men.”  That’s a promise, and God keeps his.  The desire to reach people, the opportunities to witness to people, the power to convert people, the words to share with people – God provides it all.  Good news goes out.  It goes out through you as God keeps this promise to you.  “I will make you fishers of men.”  Instead of wondering in frustration how on earth God’s kingdom is ever going to grow numerically, it’s encouraging to hear God speak to you and me and say, “You can do this.  You will catch men, because I will make it happen.”

Jesus has called you to be his disciples – that’s his grace.  He will equip you to serve as his disciples – that’s his power.  He will keep you as his disciples – that’s his love.  Amen.

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