Discipleship

Have you ever had someone walk up to you and ask you, do you know Jesus? And usually, when they ask you that, there's a sincerity in what they're, you know, they're, they want to explain to you, they want to witness that they know Jesus. And if you talk to most evangelical Christians, you know, they define Jesus, even in the mainstream Christianity, the old mainstream core Christianity. There is a definition of Jesus, and their relationship with Jesus is basically based on Eastern Christmas. You know, they'll talk about Jesus in the manger, and then they see Jesus on the cross and His resurrection.

And those two events, or those two celebrations, not necessarily the events, but the celebration of those events with all the things that are mingled in with it, define how they know Jesus, and define how they tend to look and define their relationship with Jesus. When we look at the Bible, we see Jesus as our Savior. We know that He's the Son of God. We know that He's the pre-existent Word. We know that He's divine. He wasn't just a man. We know that we pray in His name. We look forward to Him coming back as King of Kings. In fact, we should define, to a certain degree, our relationship with Jesus through the Holy Days. And since this is something that was brought up both here, and even though I have our congregational meeting this afternoon in Nashville, people there, a number of them, already mentioned that they would like some messages on how do we define our relationship with Jesus Christ? Because we define our relationship with God the Father very clearly. In fact, Christ defines our relationship with the Father. But how do we define our relationship with Jesus Christ? Since this has come up a number of times, each of the Holy Days throughout the next year, either before the Holy Day or during the Holy Day, I'm going to give a sermon on how that Holy Day pictures what God is doing through Christ. So that we can look at and begin to define somewhat our relationship with Christ as distinctive from our relationship sometimes with the Father. Christ's emphasis is always on the Father. He points us to the Father. We'll look at that. But how do we define that? So this is actually a sermon that we'll be giving different aspects of this throughout now, the whole Holy Day season as we go through the fall Holy Days, spring Holy Days, and Pentecost. So we see Him as Savior. We see Him as High Priest. We see Him as Succumbent King. We see Him as Lord and Master. But I want to talk about a very specific way that helps us begin to define how we relate to Jesus Christ. How do we relate to Jesus? We know that Jesus thought that the greatest of all the commandments was to love God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. Now, when I talked about integrity last week, I talked about how that is the beginning of integrity. And He taught us that. And He was saying, He was picturing the Father. He was looking towards the Father. And He said, we must have that kind of complete love, dedication, fellowship with the Father. We must believe that He is the Almighty God. But we must have that kind of faith and trust in Him. Now, there's a very interesting passage where Jesus told His disciples to pray in His name. I'm going to look at that. Let's go to John 16. John 16.

As you develop a relationship with God as Father, there's an emotional element, isn't there? It's not just some kind of intellectual understanding that this being exists. There begins to be an emotional element and connection with God. When He gives us His Spirit, there are times we experience His presence. You can't even explain that at times. You just know that God's with you. You begin to experience this presence. You begin to experience an emotional relationship.

Look at what Jesus says here in verse 23, starting in verse 23 of John 16. He says, In that day you will ask Me nothing. Now, He's telling His disciples, there's going to come a time when you're not going to come ask Me things. Because it was coming to Him to ask Him everything. Will you go to God for us?

Will you pray for us? Will you? He says, There's going to come a time when you're not going to ask Me anything. And most assuredly, I say to you, when you ask the Father in My name, He will give you. Now, He says, you're going to have to ask Him in My name. We begin to realize here, we see that when Jesus is the door, He sort of opens the door. You and I have access to the Father because Jesus Christ opens the door for us.

And we pray in His name. This is the problem sometimes, you'll see. You know, sometimes an emphasis on Jesus to the, almost ignoring of the Father. But at the same time, we cannot only see the Father and not recognize what He's doing to His Son. Because it is through His Son that we're able to go to the Father. And we go in His name. At the end of every prayer, the opening prayer, in Jesus' name. Sometimes we whip through that. In fact, I whipped through that in my personal prayer so fast. I stopped, got back down on my knees and apologized.

And Jesus said, okay, the prayer is done. What else do I have to say? Oh yeah, Jesus' name, amen. Okay, I'm done talking to the Father. So I whip through it, stand up, and then say, you know what? I just insulted Jesus Christ. I think I'd better go back. And I got back down on my knees and apologized.

It's almost like, you know, He's a caricature. So He says, we do pray in His name, but He gives us, His work opens a direct access to the Father. Now look what He says here in the rest of this passage.

Verse 24. Verse 24. Until now you have asked nothing in my name, asking you will see that your joy may be full. These things I have spoken to you figurative in figurative language. But the time is coming when I will no longer speak you in figurative language. But I will tell you plainly about the Father. The work of Jesus Christ is to reveal to us the true nature of God.

Verse 26. In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you. That's very interesting because we at some point will have to go through and show how Jesus is our intercessor. And He has a work of interceding for us, part of the day of Atonement teaches us that. But He says, remember, it's not like you pray and then I go pray for you. In fact, we'll see His intercession as He's praying with us. He's beside us all the time. It's very interesting. He's telling God, take this child. This child, in my name, take this child. Well, what's interesting is that when you pray, it's not like you're going to be saying, Jesus, would you go to the Father for me?

He says, when you come in my name, the Father says, come here, child. Come here. You come in the name of Christ, and I'll show you in a while. You come in the name of Christ, and I'll show you in a while. Okay, this is a very important reason why it's not revealed to later in the Scripture.

He says, when you go, the Father directly answers your prayers. And then there's this remarkable statement that we could miss here. That we have to understand if we're going to understand our relationship with Jesus Christ. He says, for the Father Himself, this is verse 27, the Father Himself loves you. And then there's this huge word, because He loves you. But this access, you know, God loves people that hate Him.

God has this huge love for humanity. All human beings are created in His image. It grieves Him to see what human beings are doing. But this is very interesting. This is talking about direct access to the Father. That when you pray, the Almighty God is listening and interacting with you personally. Why does that happen? Well, okay, I have to go in Jesus' name, okay? And the Father loves you, because... Let's look what the rest of the sentence is. Because you have loved me and have believed that I came forth from God.

In other words, if we want complete, open access to the Father, that the Father responds to us, He has to see that we believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. It's not just like we're going in His name. Like He's just a superhuman being. Like, He was a really nice guy. Well, then I could go in the name of Moses, couldn't I? Why can't I go in the name of Paul?

Because Jesus is the Son of God. So we go in His name, so we have to believe that He came from God. We have to believe He returned to God. We have to know who He is, and we must love Him. The Father loves you because you love me and believe in who I am. That's a remarkable statement, isn't it?

So we have to have some kind of emotional connection, also, an intellectual connection with Jesus Christ. He can't be the afterthought.

So how do we begin to define that relationship? And we really define it through all His different roles, which He has a lot of different roles in the Scripture. But the one I would as you read on today is the role of disciple. What it means to be a disciple. Let's go to Matthew chapter 10.

Matthew chapter 10. Yeah.

Oops. I started to read and realize I'm in Mark. It was a great Scripture, but it just had nothing to do with what I was about to talk about.

Matthew 10.

Let's pick it up in verse 37. We'll actually come back to Matthew here in a few minutes. Verse 37. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. This is Jesus talking. And he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Now, He had already said, you must love the Father with everything you have. And here He says, in the priorities of life... You know, in Luke's account, it says, hate.

That word hate in Luke's account has no English equivalent. That's the problem. It's a Greek word that has no English equivalent. It doesn't mean hate. It means that you're comparing things. I like all ice cream. Right? I love chocolate. Compared to chocolate, I hate vanilla. But if you serve vanilla, I'm going to eat it. Right? Because I love ice cream. You see what I mean? It's a comparison issue. So when He says, you have to love me more than every other relationship, He has to be a priority in our life. How in the world do we make Him a priority in our relationships? And we'll look at the context of Matthew 10. It shows us how.

You know, how many of you, when you were baptized... I was asked when I was baptized, the passage of Luke, where this part of this word, it's quoted in Luke, was read to me in my baptism council. You must love me more. The mother, brother, sister, in your own life also, you cannot be my disciple. You must count the cost. How many of you had that read to you? I read it to everybody. Go with yours. Every time I ask that question, about half the people... Yeah, that was read to them. And we said, Yes, Lord, I will love you more than everybody else. And then we love the father, and we sometimes shove Christ aside from what he's supposed to be doing. Now, remember, He opens the door to the Father. Christ said, I want you to emphasize my father.

But at the same time, we can't ignore what God's doing through him, because we just read, God will answer your prayers, and God loves you because you love me, and you understand who I am.

So we have all these different ways to define his relationship. Here he is in the concept of disciple. The important thing is, what is a disciple? Well, okay, a disciple is a student. The concept of disciple, and even the Greek word, means more than student. A disciple became an imitator of his teacher. Now, you think today, could you imagine 13 men walking around through your neighborhood all the time, preaching to everybody? Is that what Jesus and his 12 disciples did? In Middle Eastern culture, that wasn't weird.

In Far Eastern cultures today, in religious, like Buddhism, that's not weird. You have a master, and you'll have students. And he'll dress like the master, and they'll look, they'll just, they're following wherever he goes. In Middle Eastern culture, that was not strange.

These were imitators of their rabbi, and he would teach them. I mean, today, we call the police. Right? If 13 guys kept walking through my neighborhood preaching, I'd eventually call the police. No, I'd actually go out and try to convert them, and they'd probably leave. But, but you understand what I'm saying. We, that seems strange to us. No. They ate with their teacher. They followed their teacher. They listened to him. They worked for him. Everything they did was to emulate their teacher. And you'll see, like, the Pharisees, and some of the others of the religious groups of the time, come to the disciples and say, well, you know, your master does this. They have a question. Why would they go to them? They're the disciples of their master. They'll explain why their master does things, why their rabbi does certain things. So, this idea of being a disciple is all-inclusive. It's not just being a pupil. It is being an imitator. Of your teacher. Then the next verse, he says, and he who does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Now, this is Jesus saying this. Remember, he said, I'm the one who opens the door for you to go to the Father.

But you're going to have to carry this cross. Now, I have to admit, for many, many years I read that, and I thought, well, that's pretty dramatic and poetic, but it wasn't until, I don't know, maybe 15 years ago, that I really got what it meant. You see, I've never seen somebody walking through the streets carrying the crossbar of a cross.

They did all the time. The Romans many times liked to have the person carry, because the Roman cross was a lot of different things. It was what we call the traditional cross. Sometimes it was a T, sometimes it was an X, they now know that sometimes they built scaffolding. So they could nail up about 15 people at a time. Now, whatever the cheapest way that, you know, a tree, you know, it didn't matter. An old stump that was high enough, they'd nail up anybody, anything. But they liked to make a spectacle of it so that everybody could see what it was like if you somehow betrayed the Roman Empire. And so you would go through the town, carrying.

Usually it was the cross bar that you would carry, sometimes the whole thing. Sometimes they'd be kicking you and spinning you on you and smacking you and hitting you with a whip. Now, he says, now think about it, what it meant to the people who he said this to. The Bible always has to be read. What did it mean to the people who first got it? Then what does it mean to us? Those people saw people carrying a crossbar and it was hard, heavy, grueling, painful work. And how long did you carry it?

There wasn't a time you could say, okay, guys, I've had enough. Letting it down, say, I'm going home now. How long did you carry a cross? Until they nailed you to it.

You carried it until you died. Now, Jesus says here, if you are worthy of me, first of all, I have to be, you know, you're at number two priority. Number one priority is the Father. They're actually the same priority, but he's making a point here about his distinction of who he is. And he says at the end, he says at the end, you have to carry this. You have to carry it. We don't get to put it down. You know, it is another place where Paul says, you know what I do? I carry the cross of Jesus Christ every day. Now, that's a relationship, isn't it? We have to begin to understand how he defined the relationship we're supposed to have with him. And then look at the Holy Days and it all comes together. And so this is an important question. How do we have this relationship? Being a disciple is more than a believer.

Christianity has enough believers. Jesus Christ wants disciples. There's enough people that say, I believe he wants disciples. And as we'll see, discipleship leads to another relationship. All these relationships are connected together. Look at John 8. We'll come back to Matthew here in a little bit. John 8.

Verse 31.

Jesus said to those Jews who believed him. Okay, these are people he was talking to, Jewish people. Of course, he was a he was born a Jew. He's talking to them. They believed. This man knows what he's talking about. They must have believed probably that he was a Messiah. He said, If you abide in my word, you are my disciples, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. If you abide in my word, abide means live. We must live in the teachings of Jesus Christ. Live in them. He didn't say you have to hear them. You have to agree to them. You have to be immersed in it. You have to abide in it. Inside. His teachings surround you. They're in your mind. They're in your heart. They surround you. We live in these teachings. This, he says, is what a disciple is. So, okay, now we can begin to understand how we develop this relationship.

We are immersed in the teachings of Jesus Christ.

We are immersed in the teachings of Jesus Christ.

So we have the cost of discipleship. It's a heavy cost. It's just the carrying the cross. But you know what? What a magnificent obsession. It's a shame to go through life without an obsession. To go through life just sort of living every day. At the end of it, you don't even know how you lived.

We have, in Christ, and we talk about the Passover, you know, the price he paid for us. That's all part of this relationship. But in this relationship as a disciple, we have a hero who shows us this is the way this is supposed to work. Live this way. Now, if you and I had the Old Testament, we could try to live that way. The Jews do, but they miss something. It is that Jesus Christ, we see how it's supposed to work. No, no, this is how this works. This is how you do this. That's why if you really are a disciple of Jesus Christ, you could give up the Ten Commandments. Because you can't take the Sermon on the Mount and do away with the Ten Command. I remember having a discussion one time with a man, and I said, how can you read the Sermon on the Mount and not, you know, at least believe in the Sabbath? I mean, you know, he was, and I mentioned a few other commandments that he really didn't agree with. And he said, oh, that's very easy. Everything Jesus said before he died was done away with.

I said, how are you a disciple of Jesus?

And I realized he wasn't. So I could talk and talk and talk, and it wasn't going to make any difference at all.

Now, this discipleship relationship actually shows us and expands into another relationship, Hebrews 2.

And this is something that ties into both the Passover and specifically the Day of Atonement. Hebrews 2.

See, with me so far, if I lost you, okay. Hebrews 2. Personally. But we see Jesus, who has made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. So, okay, we have that relationship of him as Savior, as sacrifice. We see that. And that binds us together with him. Because without that, we have no door. We have no access to the Father. For it was fitting for him for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make a captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified, okay, he who makes holy and those who are becoming holy are all of one, for which reason? Now listen to this. He, speaking of Jesus, is not ashamed to call them brethren.

The word didn't have to become flesh to be divine, right? He was already that. Why did he become flesh? I wondered, is there not another way God could have done this? For Christ to go through what he went through is unimaginable to me. Could I do that to my son? Why would God do that? Because the word and the Father had a relationship forever. Why would he do that? It's very, very important. You and I were made of the image of God. Right? We are the children of God. But there's this huge gulf between us and God. If God said, I want you to obey me doing this, this, and this, you can go to God and say, God, you have no idea what it's like to be like me. You're God and I'm not. You're asking too much of me. You say I'm your child, but I don't feel like I'm your child because, you know, you just you really want me to do this and be this way. You want me to really love my husband? You try living with my husband.

Right? But what happens? If he's created a family, he had to show us the connection. Who is the connection? Who makes us connect to God as Father and understand what it is to be part of the family? Jesus said, I'm not ashamed to call him brother. I think he would be ashamed to call me brother.

He says he's not. Think about that. We think, well, God surely does want to go around saying, I'm the God of those people. But he does. But even he says, I'm their father. And Jesus says, oh, yep, yep, that's my sister. That's my brother.

Discipleship leads us into the concept of Jesus' big brother. Oh, I got to imitate my teacher. Oh, I can imitate my brother. He's a family member. He's just not some rabbi that shows up. He's my brother. He shows me how this works. His life, these gospels, and everything the Bible teaches, is actually defined by him. Here's how this works. Here's what it is to be part of this family. And yes, you're part of our family, and I'm your brother. Look what it says in verse 14. It is much then, as the children, that's us, the children of God, as all of humanity. Now, Jesus came for humanity. That our partakers of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same that through death He might destroy Him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed, He does not give aid to angels. This argument in chapter 1 and 2 is about angel worship, the belief that Jesus was an angel, which of course is taught by Mormons and other groups today. The whole argument here is He was an angel. He was God, and He's showing us where to go. He's showing us how to become part of that family. But He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore, in all things, He had to be made like His brethren. Who is His brother and sisters? Who are they? Because He had to become like them.

Now, that is an enormous statement for Him. We'll have to go through Christ's divinity and what He did to become a human being. What He actually gave up is events.

He got tired and had to go to sleep. People got on His nerves. There's some scriptures to talk about.

He was tempted to sin. Was there ever a temptation before? No. He knew when He became flesh. Okay, I'm going to have to go through some very unpleasant experiences here. Why? We've got to show them how to be children. It's one thing to say, I'm a father. Your father's another thing to say. Okay. How do I be a child? Well, here. I will send my son to be your child, or my child, so that you can learn how to be children. So, he became like us.

I mean, he got hungry. There were days he didn't feel good. There were days he must have gone to the father and said, may I just bring me home? This is horrible. Well, we do know that at the end. And John, he asked God to bring him home.

Therefore, in all things, he had to be made like his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest, honorably in this other role. Oh, I have to discuss him as I preach this sometime. In all things, pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people, for that he himself was suffered being tempted, he is able to aid those who are tempted. You can go to the father and say, this is hard. And Christ, who is at your right hand, knows he's been here. Thank you. It says he gives aid. Thank you for doing this. You're still praying to the father. But you have access to the father through Christ. And how does he give us aid? By leading us to the father.

There's also an action he does through the Holy Spirit, but we'll have to talk. That's a whole other subject, too.

It's very complex, but very personal relationship with Christ. It's just as personal as the relationship with the father. And Christ keeps saying, but remember, he's your number one priority. He's your number one priority.

He knows what it's like. You can't give that argument to God. Oh, you don't know what it's like. He just points to the one that sits at his right hand and says, oh, yes, I do. Oh, yes, I do.

So through this discipleship, we begin to understand his brother, not just his rabbi, but as an older brother. And we want to be like him. You ever see a little kid with an older brother? You know, they try to walk like him and act like him and stick their hands in her pocket and, you know, do all the stuff that the older brother does. Yeah, that's our relationship with Jesus Christ. Imulate him, because he tells us how this works. That's interesting because in the Old Testament, the Messiah is supposed to interpret the law. So who do we go to to interpret the law? Jesus Christ. His interpretations are a little different than what you and I go on with sometimes. A little different than what Judaism came up with. It's a little different than what mainstream Christianity has come up with. He's the interpreter of the law.

But he also showed us how it was to be done. So you have an example. Okay, here's what you do. Let me show you. I'll do it for you.

Now, let's go back to Matthew 10 for just a couple verses. Matthew 10, I said was... I read that because it's about Jesus' instructions to the 12 as disciples. What's interesting about Matthew 10 is, Matthew 10 is the first time he sent them out on their own. Up to this point, they had been with him. And he trained them, and he ate with them, and... I mean, they traveled together. Everything they did was together. And he taught them, and he showed them, and they watched his example. And then, like any good teacher, there's somebody who said, okay, you guys are going to go do this. So go out, do it, then come back, and let's sit down and do a... You know, sit down, talk about it, figure out what happened. What do you do when you do a project? You come back, and what do they call that? See how it worked. Forget the word. A briefing? Yeah. Yeah, you don't want to be... You bring everybody together, say, okay, folks, how did this go? Post-mortem. We call that in beyond today, because we're usually saying, well, that show died, so we need to do a post-mortem. But...

He brought them back. So here he gives them all these instructions, and they were in very specific places they were to go, very specific places they weren't to go. It's just a fascinating chapter. And, you know, don't take any money with you. What? No, no, just take a little bag, and off you go. And it's in his passage, he says, now, wait a minute. If you're going to be my disciple, then you have to love me more. You have to go do this. And you have to carry your cross. Now, let's look at what he tells him in verse 22. And you will be hated by all for my name's sake. That's very interesting, because in the Jewish world, of course, they wouldn't hate them for being followers of Yahweh, of God, of the Lord, and they were. Even in the Roman world, they had certain privileges as followers of the God of Israel. But to follow Jesus Christ, Jesus the Messiah was considered heresy by the Jews and treason by the Romans. You and I don't suffer persecution for belief in Jesus Christ. They suffer persecution because of their belief in Jesus Christ. And so he said, you'll suffer for my sake. But he who adores to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in this city, flee to another, for surely I say to you, you will not have gone through all the cities of Israel before this other man comes. A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. He said, I want you to understand something. He says, as my disciples, you don't get more privileges than the teacher does. It is enough for a disciple to be like his teacher and a servant to be like his master. If they had called the master of the house Velsabam, how much more shall they call those of his household? He said, you're not more privileged than I am, and they call me an instrument of Satan.

So he told them as disciples they would be persecuted.

He gave them other instructions here. Let's look at verse 32. Therefore, whoever confesses thee before men... Now that doesn't seem as if strange as us. I mean, we live in a country where someone comes up and says, are you a Christian? Do you believe in Jesus? He said, yeah. Okay. But they could go confess to God of Israel and not necessarily be persecuted. But to confess and say, I believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah.

They were persecuted.

But he says here in verse 32, therefore whoever confesses me before men, him I will also confess before my Father who is in heaven. And you see the link in the relationship. We go to the Father through Christ. He says, you want to go to the Father, acknowledge who I am, and I will take you there.

I will take you there. So every time we acknowledge, every time we pray in his name, we're acknowledging that it is through him that we're allowed to come before the throne of God. And that's something that we should be in our minds all the time.

Then he says, verse 33, but whoever denies me before men, him I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven. That's a very important statement too in it. To deny Jesus Christ means that he won't let us have access to the Father. The Father will reject us because we're denying Jesus Christ.

I think sometimes in our culture, we have not emphasized this enough. And yet these are clear statements. I mean, it's not like I have to do any interpretation here, right? They're just clear statements. We have to recognize what God is doing through his Son. And God says, if you don't recognize that, I will not recognize you. It's another proof that Jesus is God. He's a pretty bold statement, isn't he? Can you imagine a human being said, you deny me and God will deny you? We'd say, yeah, well, you're crazy, right? Now, we believe these Gospels, then we have to believe these statements. We should be living examples of Jesus Christ. In every thing.

You know, I hated to cliche, you know, WWJD, what would Jesus do? But you know what? That's actually a good thing to ask yourself all the time. What would my big brother, the Lord, be like, that's a good thing to ask yourself all the time. What would my big brother do here?

Maybe you'll find yourself saying, God, would you help Christ show me what I'm supposed to do here?

What am I supposed to do?

As big brother intercedes and takes us to the Father. Another teaching of Jesus for disciples is in John 13.

This one, I fear that in our culture, in our history, organizations going back over the last 80 years, we have somewhat failed in this. And this bothers me. John 13.31.

Is that what I wanted? Yeah. So when he had gone out, Jesus said, now the Son of man is glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and glorify him immediately. In other words, he says, I'm about to be changed into something that you don't quite understand yet. Little children, I shall be with you a little longer. Little children. Big brother now, talking. I shall be with you a little longer. You will seek me, and as I said to the Jews where I'm going, you cannot come. So now I say to you, a new commandment I give you that you love one another. Now, the Old Testament demands them. We love one another. The commandment was not new. It's the next statement that's new. A new commandment I give you that you love one another as I have loved you that you also love one another. Once again, what's he doing? He's telling his disciples, I'm taking the commandment, I'm expanding it out. I say, you know you're supposed to love one another. I show you how to do this. So do it as I do it. You've seen it. We can read it. Do it as I do it. Then you'll understand what God's all about. He's our connection. Ah, this is what God's all about. Then he says in verse 35, By this all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. We're supposed to be exhibiting Jesus Christ so much that people, we can't hide the fact, they were disciples. Ah, you're a disciple of Jesus, aren't you? They're supposed to see it. I've tried to hide it at times. I always see it. Because why? Well, I might get persecuted. Or anybody might think I'm weird.

The New Testament is filled with people who show this and because of it, God used them to attract other people to become disciples. It's a funny thing. When you're truly a disciple, you don't have to go around and advertise it. You don't have to show yourself off. You just have to be a disciple. And you end up being used to possibly make other disciples. That's what a congregation is. Part of the reason for a congregation is this is a disciple-making place. Where disciples show other disciples. Oh, this is how this disciple stuff works. This is what we are. This is who we are. As was in the sermon. I forget to tell you a story about that song someday. Some of you know Darris McNeel, so you'll get a kick out of it. I told him that I'm always making fun of him in church. Because I was at his house earlier this week, where I had to go up and do some things for television. I told him, yeah, I make fun of you in church as much as possible.

It's funny. Let's look at a verse about a man who tried to hide his discipleship. John 19.

You see that many times, disciples become mentors to others. When you think about Barnabas was a mentor. Paul was a mentor. Aquila and Priscilla were mentors. Apollos. What we read when we read Timothy versus like Timothy and Titus, we see a man mentoring other men. Now, none of us have the job Paul had. That doesn't mean we don't mentor. By example, by what we do, by how we talk to people, by our actions. Show in 1938. After this, this is right after Jesus died, Joseph of Erphimia, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews. Okay, so he's a secret disciple. So most people don't know that this Joseph is following Jesus. He's able to follow Jesus, be a disciple, and just sort of hide out of the Jewish population. But here's the problem. His next action reveals that he's a disciple of Jesus. So you can't hide it after a while. Because it says, ask Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took the body of Jesus. Now all the Jews have to say, ah, you're the ones that were celebrating that he just got killed? You must be one of his disciples! They wanted him to hang up there for a long time. And then the Romans were taking down and throwing him into the gahanna, into the garbage dump. That's what they wanted. So here Joseph of Erphimia is a secret disciple. And then probably just not even thinking about it. His actions revealed who he was. He couldn't hide it. So we could try to hide it. And now that's saying we need to go out and try to convert everybody. Jesus didn't try to convert everybody. Jesus didn't heal everybody. Jesus didn't even talk to everybody. He did what God told him to do when it was immediately in front of him. And that's what he did. That's what we're supposed to do. None of us have the role of Jesus Christ. None of us are Jesus Christ. We just have a big brother we're supposed to emulate. And through the syphilis of actions. I read a simple story, but it had an effect on me because I thought of the people involved. It was right after World War II. And it was a soldier. He was in Germany. Of course, the cities had been devastated. And there were tens of thousands of little children that either their homes had been destroyed, many of them were orphans, and they were roaming the streets. And this soldier was living in someone's house. And he would drive into where he was working because they didn't have barracks in a lot of other places. They just lived where they could because the whole place was devastated. And every day he drove by one of the few businesses that was still working, and it was a bakery. And so he'd drive by, and then he'd just jeep, and he could smell the stuff, and there's this bakery going on. And he was driving by one day, and there was a little tattered boy just head his face, just staring inside, outside. He couldn't go in. He didn't have any money. Looking at the baker baking the bread for the day. It was early in the morning. And a guy was so moved by the whole thing, he pulled over, got out of the jeep, walked over, and asked the boy in German if he wanted to like something. And the boy said, yes! So he went in, and he bought him a dozen pastries, which probably was the best thing for him because, you know, malanduris probably, but it's what he bought him. So he brings out this dozen pastries, and he gives it to him. And he walks over, and he's about to get in the jeep, and he feels someone tugging at the back of his coat. And he turns around, the boy's standing there, and he stares at him, and he says, are you gone?

When was the last time someone in despair asked you are you a Christian? Is our relationship with Jesus Christ so personal that we can't hide it? Is our relationship with Jesus Christ so personal that we look like our brother? We can't help it. There's just too much of a family resemblance. We don't want to be sometimes like the family. You know, you might have physical families you don't want anybody to know that you're part of.

But this family is THE family. The more we are like that teacher, that older brother, the more you can't hide it. Oh, and when you're not acting like him, you feel guilty. Because every day we're not acting like Christ, right? But you feel guilty about it! It's like, oh no. And you know why? Because of the relationship. It's not because I think now God will punish me. It's because, oh, I think he'll be disappointed. Remember how you didn't want to disappoint your dad or your mom or your older siblings? You don't want to disappoint Christ. So this concept of Jesus as teacher and older brother teacher and us as disciples is absolutely elementary to us understanding our relationship with Him. So how well do we know and practice the teachings of Jesus Christ? His interpretations of the Scripture. How do we really know that? It is possible to accept Jesus of Nazareth as a Messiah and still not follow His teachings. As I said before, there's lots of believers. But we're supposed to be disciples. We're supposed to be imitators. Christ leads us to God the Father. And that is our priority and that's the focal point. But we can never forget how we got there. We can't forget how we got there. And we can't forget Him as our brother, the daily work He does for us. Daily carrying out the Father's work in us, in the world. Who is it that the Father's doing everything through? Who is the head of the church? Who is the soon coming King? Who is it? It's Christ. So I encourage all of you to take some time. I always said I'll give you homework. Take some time this week and go back and read. Just pick any of the Gospels. Start with Matthew and read all of them. Read the Gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Discover maybe some things about Jesus Christ that you've forgotten or didn't know. And remember as you read that, that here He is, the Son of God, who has literally inspired to be written that He is not ashamed to call you His brother and sister. And then become imitators of the teacher.