Good morning, Paul and the worship team. Norman Mailer said on television the other night that the Holocaust was God's greatest defeat. Do you believe that? Norman Mailer was creating a God in his own image. He said, I believe in a God who is doing the best he can. He went on to say that God is neither all-powerful nor all-wise, that he's just like we are, only bigger. He is creating God in his image. The fact is that nothing happens by chance.
Although sometimes the language we use suggests that it does, we talk about luck or fortune or fate. We speak of accidents or a gamble or we talk about something that happened. The fact is that life in all of its circumstances is superintended by divine providence, a providence that is all-wise and all-powerful. John Milton, the 17th century English poet, spoke of that power which erring men call chance. Chance does not really exist in the world, except in mathematics perhaps.
In fact, God is the one who knows all and arranges all. We see that illustrated in Jesus' choosing of his disciples. Toward the end of his time with them, he reminds them of the fact, you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, John 15 and verse 16. He was preparing them for his impending death. He was teaching them about his relationship to himself. It's like a vine and its branches, he says. And the fact that I am the vine and you are the branches is not coincidental. It's not a chance.
He says, I have chosen you. Later in the chapter he says, I have chosen you out of the world. The same is true of every genuine Christian. We are chosen by God's grace to belong to Jesus Christ. The new you that you are in Christ is a chosen disciple, in a very similar way to those who walked with Jesus more than 2,000 years ago. Think with me of what this means to be a disciple chosen by Jesus Christ. We need to think first of all, what is a disciple?
The word disciple in the original language comes from a verb that means to learn. And so a disciple is a learner. A disciple is one who studies from another, who is his teacher. It is really more than a student though. A disciple is more than a mere pupil in a classroom. The word disciple goes on to embrace the idea of devotion to one's teacher. It means one who is an adherent to his teacher.
Biblically speaking, a disciple is a follower, an adherent of Jesus Christ, one who is devoted to his teacher. It is interesting in the Gospel of John to notice the steps of the chosen disciples of Jesus. Jesus indicated that he had chosen them. We need to examine the beginning of that relationship in which he chose them. Turn back with me in the Gospel of John to the first chapter. Notice in verse 35 what took place the day after Jesus was baptized.
It says, The next day John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked upon Jesus as he walked and said, Behold the Lamb of God! And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. And Jesus turned and beheld them following and said to them, What do you seek? And he said to him, Rabbi, which is translated teacher, Where are you staying? He said to them, Come, and you will see.
They came therefore and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. And he found first his own brother, Simon, and said to him, We have found the Messiah, which translated means Christ. He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, You are Simon, the son of John. You shall be called Cephas, which translated means Peter or stone.
The next day he purposed to go forth into Galilee, and he found Philip. And Jesus said to him, Follow me. And Philip was from Bethsaida of the city of Andrew and Peter. And Philip found Nathaniel and said to him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law and also in the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Here we have the very first step of becoming a disciple. It is a step that I am labeling for this morning at least an introduction.
You will notice that the first two were disciples of John the Baptist. And as they were with John one day, Jesus walked by and Jesus said to them, Behold the Lamb of God. And immediately they began following Jesus, literally. They began walking with Jesus, following after him. That was their introduction. Jesus then turned to them and said basically, What do you want? They inquired where he was staying and Jesus invited them saying, Come and I will show you, come and you will see.
It was the next day that Jesus found another one. And he said to this one, Follow me. And he did. Here we have the step of introduction. It is a step that is essential for one to become a disciple of Jesus Christ. You and I are called by the Lord now that we are disciples to be something like John the Baptist, to be introducers, to say to other people, Behold the Lamb of God. Behold the Savior. Here is Jesus Christ. You need to meet him.
We are called upon to be that one who introduces another to him. And then our Lord does the work in the heart and draws out the heart and summons the heart by saying to that one, Follow me. But it begins with the step of introduction. And then comes the step of faith. We see this in chapter 2 on the part of these first disciples. You recall that Jesus went to this wedding in Cana of Galilee.
In verse 11 it says, This beginning of his signs, turning the water into wine, Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him. So now we have step number 2. First they followed him. Now they have faith in him. It is based upon what they have heard him say thus far and upon what John calls these signs. They are not merely miracles in John's terminology. They are signs intended to point to him, to the Lord Jesus. And they believe.
They place their faith in him as Messiah. Now often we think that there were only a handful of people around Jesus, but in fact there were others that followed Jesus, at least from time to time. And at the end of this chapter we have an interesting note about some of them. It says, Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in his name, beholding his signs which he was doing. But Jesus on his part was not entrusting himself to them.
For he knew all men, and because he did not need anyone to bear witness concerning man, for he himself knew what was in man. Aren't these interesting verses? It says that there were others in Jerusalem who believed on him, but Jesus did not believe them. This is literally what the language says. The word entrust is the very same word for believe. They believed in him, he did not believe them. What is the problem? Jesus knew the hearts of these people. Their hearts were superficial in faith.
It was not a genuine saving faith. And so we understand that in this crowd of people who were coming along with Jesus in the days of his ministry, there were some who genuinely believed on him, but there were others who believed him only in some superficial sense, some sense that was less than saving. Peter, Jesus, purposely sought to divide the crowd, to skim off those who did not believe. For example, in chapter 6 we see him doing it.
He has just given to them a very difficult discourse to understand regarding the truth that he is the bread of life. He has explained that for one to be saved he must eat of this bread. And they thought he was talking about eating his body, cannibalism. They did not understand that he was talking about spiritually appropriating who he is. It says in verse 60, many therefore of his disciples, when they heard this, said, this is a difficult statement. Who can listen to it?
But Jesus, conscious that his disciples grumbled at this, isn't that interesting? That should be an encouragement to any of you who are leaders of other people. Even the Lord Jesus Christ in his earthly ministry had people who followed him who grumbled. So don't be surprised in your work as a leader that there are people who grumble. That happened to Jesus. He said, does this cause you to stumble? What then if you should behold the Son of Man ascending where he was before?
It is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh profits nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit in our life. But there are some of you who do not believe. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray him. And he was saying, for this reason I have said to you that no one can come to me unless it has been granted him from the Father. As a result of this, many of his disciples withdrew and were not walking with him anymore.
Jesus thinned out the crowds purposely. He was not interested in building a large crowd. He wanted true disciples. And so now he turns to the ones who were left. And he said to the twelve, you do not want to go away also, do you? Simon Peter answered him, Lord to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God.
And Jesus answered him, or answered them, did I myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil? Now he meant Judas. Isn't it interesting that in these who walked with Jesus, these of his disciples, there were large masses of them who were alone only for the show. They came to be entertained by his teaching and by his miracles, but not to be committed to his cause and to believe on him. And now he has dwindled the crowd down to again those few that he had chosen.
And he acknowledges that even among them there is one who will betray him, who is possessed of the devil. It is still true today of those who call themselves Christians. Those who say they believe and who are followers of Jesus in some sense, there indeed are those who truly believe on Christ and who are committed to him.
But there are masses of people who have not believed under the saving of their souls, but who only in some superficial sense have come along on the ride believing that Jesus is a fine example to follow, or it's fun to be a Christian. But Jesus knows every heart, every heart. And he knew those who had believed on him. The second step in being a true disciple though is the step of faith. There's another step that comes and we see it in John chapter 4.
Chapter 12 early on had believed and in chapter 4 verse 1 we have the beginning of a small text that is overlooked in most commentaries. You will search in vain to find many comments written about these verses. It says, When therefore the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John, although Jesus himself was not baptizing but his disciples were, he left Judea and departed again to Galilee.
And then it goes on to tell about his conversation with the woman at Samaria which is almost all that we know about John chapter 4. But I want you to notice that there is a third step in discipleship that is mentioned in these verses that are often overlooked. It is the step of baptism. Those who were following Jesus even before his death on the cross were baptized.
Was this the same as John's baptism which was a baptism for repentance signifying a desire for change of heart, a baptism of preparation for the coming of Messiah? Was it something more than that? I really haven't thought through the full answer to that myself yet. But I want you to notice that those who followed Jesus, and though it doesn't explicitly state it, it is implied that those who followed Jesus, the beginning ones, those early disciples whom he chose were also baptized.
As were the others then who came to follow him, they were baptized. That is a step of discipleship. Baptism is a sign of identification. Christian baptism today signifies something different than baptism did even in chapter 4 of John. For our baptism today signifies our identification with Jesus in his death and resurrection. In John 4 that hadn't happened yet. But the ritual of it, the act of it was performed even before his death and resurrection.
It says to me that if one wishes to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, there is the issue of baptism that must be faced. It begins with an introduction to the Savior. You and I are privileged to be in that role as introducers for others. It then must develop to the point of faith, genuine faith, genuine faith, that understands who Jesus is and trusts in him for the saving of the soul. But then the very next step is baptism. And we see that carried out in the book of Acts in the early church.
We see it in the commission of our Lord Jesus when he said, go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them. Baptism is a step for a disciple. There's a fourth step that is important for us to grasp as we think about what it means to be a disciple. I'm not going to take time to read the text, but I invite you to look in John chapter 4 verse 8 and following. John chapter 6 verses 3 and following. John chapter 6 verses 16 and following. John chapter 9 verses 1 and following.
John chapter 11 verses 6 and following. What is happening in all of these texts? The disciples are being taught by Jesus. Step number 4 in the process of being a disciple is being taught. It's being taught. Jesus took these men with him as he spoke with that woman of Samaria. They were there hearing the end of that conversation. They were involved in that. They were involved in the feeding of 5,000 people. They were involved in that storm on the Sea of Galilee when Jesus came and rescued them.
They were involved in the healing of the blind man. They said, Lord, who's sinned, this man or his parents? He's blind. Jesus went over and healed a man. He said, I am the light of the world. They saw that. They learned from that. They were with Jesus when he was resting and word came that Lazarus was ill. They were with him as he waited those days after the word came until he knew. Jesus knew that Lazarus was dead.
They were with him as they walked to the home of Mary and Martha and may have heard the words that the sisters spoke to him. They heard him say to Lazarus, come forth, and saw him be raised from the dead. The fourth and final step of discipleship is that of being taught. For us, it is a lifelong process. I am glad that being a disciple of Jesus Christ is a process, not a state of perfection. Because if that were the case, I wouldn't be a disciple of Jesus.
If one had to have arrived at some state of perfection before being a disciple, then I could not qualify. For that matter, neither could any of those disciples in the New Testament nor any of us. You see, discipleship is a process. How do we learn by being with Jesus just like they were? You say, but Jesus was walking with them. They could see him. They could touch him. That is true. But you and I have an advantage over them.
That is that he can be with you and with me wherever we are at the very same time. In those days, he could be in one place at one time. Now he is with all of us at the same time so that all of us can walk with him every day and learn from him. We can go to the Bible. We can follow his tracks through his ministry. We can learn of Jesus that way. We can follow him through the day in our lives and come to learn of Jesus. One thing Jesus did for his disciples that he does for us is to test them.
Back in that occasion when he had 5,000 people to feed, Jesus asked one of his disciples, where are we going to find food for all these people? Probably for the first time that disciple began to think, I have a responsibility here and how in the world am I going to meet this? He had no idea. Jesus takes us through testing experiences too as part of our process. We don't just become disciples like that. We have to grow into it. It's a lifelong process and none of us has arrived at perfection yet.
When we forget that, we get into trouble. This winter when I can't walk outside to get some exercise, I have joined the Shoreview Community Center where I can go and exercise on equipment there. I've seen some of you there exercising as well. They have all kinds of weight equipment in that room for he-men to work out on and he-women. She-women. Whatever. I would like to have seen myself the first day I was in there.
I'm sure I did what I have seen many others do now that I've been there a couple of months. It's really almost humorous to watch some of these young bucks come in, their muscles rippling. They sit down on the machines and they max them out immediately. The most weight possible they put on there. They've done it four times and that's it. They're finished. They've worked out. See? That's the way you do it. I came to learn in fact that you can even rupture muscles doing that.
You've got to sit down and start out with a lower weight, look like a sissy, plug it in there, go through a few of these operations. Then you increase the weight a little bit. You have to work yourself up. You have to go through several repetitions on the machines. You don't sit down, just do it like that. The same is true of discipleship. It's a process. It's something we have to learn and we learn it from Jesus. We're followers of Him. The question is how much time are we spending with Him?
The first step of becoming a disciple is being introduced to Jesus. Somebody introduced you. It may have been a tract that you received or a book that you read or a radio program. It may have been a speaker at a camp or in a church or an evangelistic rally or a five-day club or a YFC club. I don't know where it may have been, but somebody took time to write down the gospel or to record the gospel or to speak the gospel to you so that they could introduce you to Jesus.
Maybe it was at that moment or perhaps it was some time later that you placed your faith in Him. Then hopefully you were baptized to signify that you are identified with Him in His death and resurrection. Since that time you have been on a lifelong process of learning to become a genuine disciple of Christ. This morning as I speak to you there are people who are at various stages of this process.
There may be some who are only now being introduced to Jesus or others who have just believed or others who are awaiting baptism or planning that or others who are still in the process somewhere down the line. The point is, are you a disciple and are you growing in your discipleship? Are you increasing? Are you learning of Him? How much time did you spend with Jesus this last week? You know Jesus gave two signs of being a disciple in the gospel of John.
One of them is well known, John 13.35, by this shall all men know you are my disciples if you have what? Love for one another. That love doesn't just mean that you are a nice person, easy to get along with. That love means that you are the kind of person who sacrifices yourself for the good of others. But there is a second sign of being a true disciple that is found in John 15.
In John 15 Jesus talks about our prayer life and the fact that through our praying we bear fruit and so prove to be His disciples. If the measurement of your discipleship was left to the effectiveness of your prayer life, how true would your discipleship be? That's a hard question for all of us to face. The fact is that one of the greatest signs that we are genuine disciples of Jesus Christ is that we are a praying people.
We spend time with Him and as a result of that there is fruit in our lives. That's our prayer and so we prove to be His disciples. Are you a disciple? What evidence do you have today to show that to the Lord? Let's pray together. It's time for us to bring this service to an end but before we do that I would like the Holy Spirit to search our hearts, your heart, my heart, regarding this matter of being a chosen disciple. Have you placed your faith in Jesus Christ, my friend?
Are you trusting in Him alone for the salvation of your soul? Perhaps you can answer yes to that. I hope you can. If so, have you been baptized? Have you followed the Lord's command to be immersed as a token of identification with Him saying that you have died with Him, that you are alive with Him? Have you obeyed the Lord in that? Are you walking with Him, learning of Him, praying in the Word?
Perhaps in the quietness of these moments you would like to talk to the Lord and express to Him what you need to regarding your discipleship. Let's take a moment right now to do that. Lord I'm glad that you never tire of our new beginnings. There are some of us here who have long been disciples but we haven't been growing much lately. We haven't been spending the kind of time with you that we would like to. And so today we start again. We say it is a new beginning today. We want to grow.
We want to be involved in this process. We want to be working out and developing our discipleship. And so we commit ourselves to that today. And we commit ourselves to be introducers for others who yet need to know about you. Forgive us when we as disciples decide to hang on to things in this world and refuse to let go and to follow you. May we like those early disciples forsake all and follow after you. Every day. All day. Let's stand with our heads bowed and sing together.
I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back. No turning back. The world behind me. The cross before me. The world behind me. The cross before me. The world behind me. The cross before me. No turning back. No turning back. Lord I am mindful that you have said that if we are not willing to take up our cross and follow you, we are not worthy to be called your disciples.
And so this week may we be willing to take up our cross and to follow you alone. Amen.