Goal of discipleship - to be like Jesus.

Some notes from the first Reachight service of the year. Ps Pacer talked about discipleship, which is going to be one of the focus for Reachlight this year. about 192 people turned up for service man, let's go for the next one together and not miss out! Next one is on 26 Feb 5.30pm - 6.45pm, MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

Well so back to the sermon, an underlying and crucial point about discipleship is that it IS Christianity. It is not only from some Christians, or for 'elite' Christians, but as much as possible, we have been mandated to it. I'll let the notes tell you more.

5 Goals of Discipleship

1. A disciple follows the PERSON of Jesus, not a PROGRAM.
Matt 4:19-20 "Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” They immediately left their nets and followed Him."

Jesus' role is to compel me to follow him. Our role is to follow him.
Programs are helpful but we must not put it before Christ.

2. A disciple focuses in SELF-DENIAL, not SELF-FULFILLMENT.
Luke 9:23-24"Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily,[a] and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it."

Subtract from your life first, and then addition will happen.
Taking up the cross is the total opposite for self-fulfillment.
Cross is a symbol of pain and suffering.
Jesus went to THE CROSS, so that we can take up A CROSS.
believer = disciple. Scripture doesn't make differentiation between both.
Criminals go to the cross for thee crimes, Christians go to the cross for their faith. So to be believers, we have to do the same and take up our cross, which according to the passage above, means that we are his disciple.

3. A disciple GIVES UP everything for the sake of GETTING Christ.
Luke 14:26-27, 33 "“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 33 So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple."

3 times here, Jesus uses negatives.
Does he really mean it literally?
a. "does not hate his father and mother..." Not ungodly hate for family and friends. But in comparison to our love for Jesus, our love for them must seem very far away.
It is not and ungodly hate that leads to sin, but a godly hate that leads to life.

b. "does not bear his cross"
Cross bearing is not the number of trials you go thru alone, but the trails you go through with faith, with valour, with strength.

c. "does not give up everything"
Not everyone of us right here right now. This word was spoken to the rich young man, and He knows his heart.
It is also a mandate for a man to provide for his family.
John 6:66 many disciples left Jesus cos they lacked understanding of what it takes to be a disciple.
Matt 13:44
We will be tempted at many points in our lives. That's why Paul says that we must crucify our flesh.
The value we place on the suffering of the cross must be of a greater value than the value we place on every single thing and person in our lives.

4. A disciple is know by his LOVE, not his LEARNINGS.
John 13:34-35 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Proof of discipleship is not how much we have learned, but how much we have loved. Love is a reflection of how much we have applied what we have learned.
Our fellow Christians will stumble and make mistakes, and these will test our love for them and be a litmus test for how much we are following God.
John 9. The Pharisees hated people. They used the adulteress as a chess piece to trap Jesus. They used the blind man whom Jesus healed on sabbath to attack Him.

5. A disciple sees discipline others as the GREAT COMMISSION, not a GREAT SUGGESTION.
Matt 28:18-20 "And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore[a] and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen."

Discipleship is the duty of every Christian, not of full time staff and pastors only.
The question that churches face today is not the number of members we have, but the number of members who are discipling others.
We don't become a disciple by our own strength - He makes us one.
Not everyone who comes through the doors of the church wants Christ. Judas didn't.

Am I willing to deny myself, bear the cross, and follow him?