Tag: Discipleship

will walker keduk ltyvw unsplash

Fish for Men! Luke- Week 9- Day 4

On By Ben JenningsIn DevotionalLeave a comment

(10) And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men.

Luke 5:10

And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he said unto him, Follow me.  (28)  And he left all, rose up, and followed him.  (29)  And Levi made him a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them.  

Luke 5:27-29

Explanation:

By observing 4 responses found in this passage we can know what it means to follow Jesus in discipleship.

Response #4- Fish

The call to follow Jesus did mean that there was a call to forsake, but it was also a call to something else.  Here Jesus alludes to what He was calling them to do.  He wasn’t just calling them to be better people for the sake of just being better people.  He wasn’t calling them to just deny themselves to make them more pious, religious, or better citizens.  No, he was calling them to His mission.  Why did Jesus come?

For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.  

Luke 19:10

Jesus told Peter that the result of His identifying Jesus as God, submitting to His authority and forsaking all to follow Him would be that He would partake in his mission. 

(10) And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men.

Luke 5:10

To follow Jesus means we will fish for men.  We also see this as the result of the calling of Levi in our passage.

and he said unto him, Follow me.  (28)  And he left all, rose up, and followed him.  (29)  And Levi made him a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them.  

Luke 5:27b-29

Once Levi followed Jesus, everything He had was being used to point people to Jesus.  Notice in verse 29 he used his house, his possessions, and his connections to get people to Jesus.

This is even the nature of Jesus’ process with the disciples.  At the beginning he tells them to “follow me”.  Be with me.  Walk where I walk.  Do what I do.  Learn what I know.  The scripture says:

And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him,

Mark 3:14a

But notice, at least in part why they should be with him..

…and that he might send them forth to preach, And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils: 

Mark 3:14b

They were with Him so that He could send them out to do His mission.

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.  (19)  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:  (20)  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Matthew 28:18-20 

Don’t miss the last part of verse 20. 

“And, lo..”.  Lo, means “behold”, “look at this”, or “take note”.  Take note of what?  “I am with you alway”.

They were with Him so that they could become fishers of men, so that then they could be sent out to make disciples of all nations.  And when they were sent, He went with them.

“Them with him” lead to “him with them”.  His mission became their mission.

The end of discipleship is always sending and service.

Application:

It is not enough to just grow in your walk with the Lord to be a little nicer, kinder, better with your money, or have a better marriage.  Clearly all of these things are possible, desirable, and even necessary.  But if Jesus wanted to make us perfect alone, He would take us to heaven right when we got saved.  In the rest of this passage we will see Jesus’ mission.  He has called us to be on mission where the people who need Him are.  In the here and now, with those who need him most.

Response:

  • Who do you need to tell about Jesus today?
felipe correia scqngs6oo1e unsplash

Forsake and Follow- Luke- Week 9- Day 3

On By Ben JenningsIn DevotionalLeave a comment

(11)  And when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him.

Luke 5:11

And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican, named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he said unto him, Follow me.  (28)  And he left all, rose up, and followed him.

Luke 5:27-28

Luke 5:27-28

Explanation:

By observing 4 responses found in this passage we can know what it means to follow Jesus in discipleship.

Response #3– Forsake and Follow

Once the disciples saw the miracle of Jesus they could not help but identify Jesus as something much more than a rabbi.  They identified Him as God.  This was not always the case during Jesus life.  Often when Jesus did His greatest miracles people rejected Him.

Their identification of Jesus caused them to respond in submission to His authority, which lead logically to the third response.  Jesus called them to “follow Him”.  Going after Jesus, or “walking after Jesus” meant that they were to go where He went, do as He did, and learn what He knew.

In verses 27 and 28 we see Jesus’ calling of Levi, also known as Matthew, the tax collector.  Jesus went to this publican, a tax collector, who was defrauding his fellow countrymen on behalf of their foreign oppressors in able to enrich himself.  Jesus went to this guy, with all of his issues, and called him to discipleship.  “Follow me”.  Notice what he said he did:

(28)  And he left all, rose up, and followed him.

By leaving these men were forsaking what they were doing before.  They could not follow Jesus the way He was demanding and not leave the things they were currently doing behind.  Following the master meant leaving the ships.  Matthews account said this about James and John.

And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.  (22)  And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.

Matthew 4:21-22

Jesus said a lot about what it meant to follow Him.  He often connected following Him with forsaking their current life.

And a certain scribe came, and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.  (20)  And Jesus saith unto him, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.  (21)  And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father.  (22)  But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

Matthew 8:19-22

And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?  (19)  And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God.  (20)  Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.  (21)  And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.  (22)  Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.  (23)  And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.  (24)  And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!

Luke 18:18-24

After that rich young man made the decision to not follow Jesus because of His posessions, and Jesus made the point that this often kept people from following in discipleship, Peter noted something about their response to Jesus’ call:

Then Peter said, Lo, we have left all, and followed thee.  (29)  And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God’s sake,  (30)  Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting. 

Luke 18:28-30

There is a reward, it is just not always in the right here, right now.  Our reward is in heaven!

And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.  (24)  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.

Luke 9:23-24

Application:

You can not go north and south at the same time.  You can not go east and west concurrently.  To follow Jesus, to become Jesus’ disciple, means that you have to forsake the things that keep you from being His disciple.  There is a sacrifice.  We have to deny ourselves.

Response:

  • What is something that is keeping your from fully following Jesus Christ?  Deny yourself!  Follow Jesus!

lucas clarysse pjljsnmv uy unsplash

Submit to Jesus- Luke- Week 9- Day 2

On By Ben JenningsIn DevotionalLeave a comment

(8)  When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.  (9)  For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken:  (10)  And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men.

Luke 5:8-10

And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

Matthew 4:19 

Explanation:

By observing 4 responses found in this passage we can know what it means to follow Jesus in discipleship.

Response #2- Submit

Simon Peter saw the evidence of the working of Jesus.  They saw His Work and properly identified Him as more than a rabbi.  When He experienced the power of God, and recognized Him as Holy, the right response was to submit to His authority, and recognize His own sinfulness.  The very presence of Jesus became a testimony against the sinfulness of Simon Peter.  And so his right response to this miracle was an attitude of submission.

Application:

It is one thing to identify Jesus correctly.  This is absolutely necessary.  But it is not enough to just identify Jesus as God. We must respond in submission to Him. We must recognize who we are in relation to His idenity. When we recognize HIm as Lord then we must recognize ourselves as sinful.  This is much like Isaiah’s response when He encountered the Holiness and power of God in His call in Isaiah 6.

In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.  (2)  Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.  (3)  And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.  (4)  And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.  (5)  Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.

Isaiah 6:1-5

The right response to the identity of Jesus is submission to Him.  We recognize our sin and confess Him as Lord and Savior.

Response:

  • When was the last time that you were not submissive to the will of Christ?  How should you respond to that?
sincerely media dgxogexaxm8 unsplash

Luke- Week 8- Day 1

On By Ben JenningsIn Devotional, DiscipleshpLeave a comment

(14) And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.  (15)  And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.

Luke 4:14-15

Explanation:

The Ministry of the Messiah

Jesus had spent over a year down in Judea according to the book of John.  Luke begins telling about Jesus’ ministry by starting more than year in when he began to minister in Galilee.  Luke is not giving all of these narratives completely chronologically, but selects them specifically for a reason.  Luke begins in Jesus’ hometown, and tells this story because it really does introduce the ministry of Jesus.

Jesus’s ministry was a ministry of reaching, teaching and ministering to people.  Some people accepted Him and others rejected Him.  Nazareth was the town where Jesus was brought up.

Notice what the scripture says about the habits of Jesus.  He said, “as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day”.  Jesus had a habit to gathering with people at the synagogue.  If it was a habit for Jesus to gather together with people where the Word of God is taught and where God is worshipped, it isn’t a bad plan for us as well.  We should imitate Him in that.

The “synagogue” was a place for gathering for worship and the study of God’s word.  The word translated “synagogue” is found 5 times in this chapter. 

Synagogues are not found in the Old Testament.  In the time of the captivity, Jerusalem’s temple had been destroyed.  People began to gather together to worship and study God’s Word.  By the time Jesus came on the scene there were synagogues all over the Mediterranean world.  Wherever there were 10 Jewish men they were able to have a synagogue.  They had a person, called a “ruler of the synagogue”, that was in charge of choosing who would teach.  They had a person in charge of the buildings and the scrolls.  They were called “houses of instruction” and that is exactly what they were.

There were often educational opportunities through the week, and even the equivalent of an elementary school for kids, except they exclusively taught the Torah to the children.  tGod, in His providence, had made all these synagogues spring up.  When Jesus came he had places to go around and preach and teach.

This is a similar custom to what the Apostle Paul adopted.  Paul would go to the synagogues because it was a concentrated gathering of people who already believed in the God of the Old Testament, and that revered the Old Testament scriptures.

Application:

God prepared the world for Jesus’ ministry.

The fact that God had moved history towards these local gatherings of people for the point of Bible teaching, worship and fellowship shows that God was preparing the world for His Son.  Called in the scripture “the fullness of times”, God brought Jesus at just the right time in human history to bring about His purposes.  This same God is in control of our history and our lives.  He can be trusted

Jesus had a habit of gathering with others for worship, instruction and fellowship.

If Jesus exemplified this, so should we.  We need to gather with our local body for these same reasons.

The gathering of people for the instruction of the Word of God is part of God’s plan for evangelizing the world.

The point of this gathering is for God to be worshipped by ourselves and everyone that He has called us to reach.  As we grow together in Christlikeness with other believers God grows us into the missionaries that He wants us to be.  The end of discipleship is service and sending into all the world to preach the Gospel to every creature.

Response:

Are you gathering with other believers regularly?

Are you growing as a disciple and as a missionary?