Intro – Part 1
1. Jesus came into the world to “seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10). In doing so, he changed people from being the disciples of Satan to become His disciples. Jesus did what Rabbis do, they make disciples.
2. To be a disciple, one must follow the precepts and instructions of the one we follow. In fact, one must want to be like his or her rabbi. Paul was a rabbi and urged his disciple to “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ” in 1 Corinthians 11:1 (NKJV).
3. Jesus made discipleship even plainer Matthew 16:24 (NKJV):
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” Then Luke 14:33 (NKJV):
33 So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.
Do you feel the seriousness of following Jesus?
4. America’s Founding Fathers were not just politicians or statesmen who wanted to establish “a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal” as Abraham Lincoln reiterated in his Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863.
5. The Founders were men of integrity who devoted themselves to Jesus and His words. As a result
a. They knew the difference between a government that was good and a tyrannical one.
b. They knew the inalienable rights God had given and were set to defend them, not just to enjoy the luxury of liberty, but to do the right thing.
c. It is always right to resist the evil that opposes God. Rebellion to tyrants IS obedience to God!
d. Let me remind you of the words of two of our Founders, John Adams and Benjamin Rush.
Can we win? John Adams to Benjamin Rush
Upon my return from the army to Baltimore in the winter of 1777, I sat next to John Adams in Congress, and upon my whispering to him and asking him if he thought we could succeed in our struggle with Great Britain, he answered me, “Yes, if we fear God and repent of our sins.”
Benjamin Rush’s view of his political stance – “Christocrat”
I have been alternately called an Aristocrat and a Democrat. I am neither. I am a Christocrat. I believe all power...will always fail of producing order and happiness in the hands of man. He alone who created and redeemed man is qualified to govern him.
President John Adams – the strength of our government
“We have no government armed with power capable of continuing with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Greed, ambition, revenge, or seduction would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
Disciples or Dabblers? Part 2: Testing Discipleship
On January 9, 1816, in a letter to Charles Thomson, who had published the "Thomson's Bible" (1808), Thomas Jefferson wrote regarding his book, The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, which he had recently translated into other languages:
I have made this wee-little book...which I call the Philosophy of Jesus. It is a paradigm of his doctrines, made by cutting the texts out of the book and arranging them on the pages of a blank book, in a certain order of time and subject.
A more beautiful or precious morsel of ethics I have never seen; it is a document in proof that I am a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus, very different from the Platonists, who call me an infidel, and themselves Christians and preachers of the gospel, while they draw all their characteristic dogmas from what its Author never said nor saw.
I had always heard that Thomas Jefferson cut out what he did not like from the Bible and arranged the things he approved of into a little book. I found that he actually believed in the power of Jesus’ words and put together a book of the sayings of Jesus, which he hoped would touch the hearts of people.
Unlike what we have heard about Jefferson, he fancied himself as a disciple of Jesus. We may not approve of some of his life choices, but it seems he wanted to serve and follow Jesus.
In this second part of our series, let’s consider the idea of “testing discipleship” from Luke 9:57-62 (NKJV).
First, there is an allure to being a disciple of Jesus. Christianity has been socially acceptable for much of America’s history. We went to church to “fit in” or be accepted in society.
Even more, there is something mysterious and appealing about being one of Jesus’ followers. People recognized that in the first century and today. Notice Luke 9:57-58:
57 Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
If we were living in the first century with Jesus, we would anticipate a coming Messiah who would provide for all of our needs and become a glorious King of Israel. This Messiah would whip the Romans and all of the enemies of Israel. He would heal the sick, raise the dead, teach the words of God, and rule. It would be a glorious era.
If we believed Jesus was the Messiah, we would want to follow Him. We would even want to be in His inner circle of possible and have positions of power in His government. The reign of the Messiah would be a glorious time for the nation of Israel. His reign would be a glorious time for individual followers as they anticipate special blessings from Him. No wonder this man told Jesus he would follow Him wherever He went!
Jesus had a different agenda on this first trip to earth. He came to lead people to God with grace and mercy. There is a time coming when He will rule with power and might. His rule will be a glorious one.
The man did not realize the cost to follow Him at this stage. Jesus lived as a rabbi of His day. He went from place to place teaching His view of the Torah and living off of the generosity of the people whom He taught. It was not an easy life, it was one of trust and faith. Jesus and His disciples lived from day to day and place to place by the grace of God.
We may not be called to literally do what Jesus’ early disciples did in following Him but we certainly see that we are not to be bound to the world in which we live. We can easily get absorbed by our thirst for money or power or things in this world and miss out on what Jesus offers.
We might even eagerly seek the opportunity to follow Jesus for personal benefit and miss the point of serving. How many TV evangelists have become rich off of the generosity of their followers? That is not what Jesus had in mind. The cost is great to follow Him. The cost is our whole life. Maybe the man who volunteered didn’t hear Jesus a few verses earlier in the chapter in Luke 9:23 (NKJV):
3 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
Second, there is an awareness of discipleship. Notice the next two verses, Luke 9:59-60:
59 Then He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.”
The Jews had a custom in which they could delay a commitment. They would say that they would bury their father and then fulfill the commitment. The trouble is, their dad could still be alive and it may take years before he died and they could live up to their promise.
When Jesus calls us to follow Him, He desires immediate response. When Jesus began calling His twelve disciples, He went by the Sea of Galilee and invited Peter and Andrew to follow. Notice their response in Mark 1:16-18:
16 And as He walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 17 Then Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” 18 They immediately left their nets and followed Him.
James and John, the sons of Zebedee, responded in the same manner. The four left their fathers to follow Jesus, as did the other eight. They did not wait until after their fathers died to follow, they left immediately.
Third, we see an anticipation of discipleship in Luke 9:61-62.
61 And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.” 62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Following Jesus anticipates what is ahead, not looking for an excuse behind. Paul wrote of this in Philippians 3:13 (NKJV):
Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,
I have been told that the number one threat to young adults going into the mission field is their parents. The parents recognize the hardships and dangers of foreign mission work. The parents also do not want potential grandchildren to be on the other side of the world. So, they talk the potential missionaries out of a calling instead of anticipating what God may do through them.
Part 3 Trusting Discipleship – Luke 18:18-25
John Adams wrote to Thomas Jefferson:
That you and I shall meet in a better world I have no doubt that we now exist on the same globe; if my reason did not convince me of this, Cicero's Dream of Scipio, and his Essay on Friendship and Old Age would have been sufficient for that purpose. But Jesus taught us that a future state is a social state, when He promised to prepare places in His Father's house of many mansions, for His disciples.
We have repeatedly stated that we face challenges as disciples of Jesus. Contrary to popular thought, following Jesus is demanding. Jesus demands that we give up anything that may come between Him and us. This principle is evident in the story about the man we call, “The Rich Young Ruler” in Luke 18:18-25 (NKJV):
18 Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
19 So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. 20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ ”
21 And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.”
22 So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”
23 But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich.
24 And when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, He said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! 25 For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
As this account begins, Jesus identifies as God. He is the “good Teacher” and only God is good. As the “good teacher,” Jesus spells out the importance of keeping the Torah. These were commands that the young man had known all of his life. The man responded in such a way that Mark 10:21 (NKJV) tells us, “21 Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him.”
It is always right to do what God says. The man did just that, he had kept commands since he was a youth. There is a problem, however. One cannot be saved by keeping the law. We stumble at some point and sin even with the Law of Moses. A significant point of the Law was to point out sin. Listen to Romans 7:7 (NKJV):
7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.”
Outwardly keeping the Law couldn’t save. We need Jesus to be the sacrifice for our sins. When we have Him, we have eternal life regardless of our station in life. Paul went on to write in Romans 8:1-3 (NKJV):
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,
Jesus gave the rich young ruler the opportunity to move beyond law-keeping and embrace an intimate relationship with the Messiah. Jesus’ relationship with the man would be based on His terms, not the man’s. Jesus would not compromise His standards even for a rich man who could have financially supported His ministry in Galilee. After all, Jesus didn’t need the money, He was God in the flesh. He had whatever He needed and could provide what His disciples needed.
Another thought occurs to me. Jesus may have been offering the man the opportunity to follow Him as He does us in a personal but general way. He had His twelve close disciples whom He intended to be “apostles.” We don’t rate positions as they had, but we can be followers nonetheless. It may be that Jesus offered the rich young ruler the opportunity to become one of the inner circle of disciples. Jesus’ invitation to “come, follow Me” may have been more than a general calling.
Think about that! If you had the opportunity to follow Jesus along with the twelve, what would you do? What would block you from taking hold of that opportunity?
The rich young ruler lost his opportunity for an intimate walk with Jesus because he loved money more than Jesus. You see, he may have kept some of the commandments of the Law of Moses, but he did not keep them all. He was covetous and idolatrous. Money was his god.
Unless the man repented, he gave his soul for his money. Do you remember Jesus’ words in Matthew 16:26 (NKJV)?
For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
The twelve did exactly what Jesus asked the rich young ruler to do. They gave up their families, their occupations, and their income in order to be with Him. He took care of His disciples. He gave them everything they needed. The rich young ruler could have been in the same position as the twelve.
We know the names of the twelve. We do not know the name of this young man. God certainly knows him and what a shock it must have been for the man to have declined the opportunity to be with Jesus, 24/7 and then have to answer to God for his misguided priorities.
BUT WAIT! Is the rich young ruler the same as you and me? Do we have something that blocks our relationship with Him? Is there an area of our lives where we don’t want Jesus to be our Lord? That area is an idol. That area is something that we need to let go of so that we can have the fullness of what God intends for us to have in Jesus.
There is something else to notice in this account. Even though Jesus loved the young man, He let the man go his own way. He did not force Himself on the man or compromise His standards of conduct so He could have the man as part of the group.
In a way, the man was dabbling and rejected the opportunity to be a full-fledged disciple. Jesus can spot the genuine and the shallow. He can take anyone and move us from dabblers and make us disciples if we will take the necessary steps of faith.
Part 4 Testifying Discipleship—Mark 5:1-20
Jefferson wrote from Monticello to Timothy Pickering, Esq., February 27, 1821:
No one sees with greater pleasure than myself the progress of reason in its advances towards rational Christianity...When, in short, we shall...got back to the pure and simple doctrines He inculcated, we shall then be truly and worthily His disciples; and my opinion is that if nothing had ever been added to what flowed purely from His lips, the whole world would at this day have been Christian....Had there never been a commentator there never would have been an infidel. I have little doubt that the whole of our country will soon be rallied to the unity of the Creator, and, I hope, to the pure doctrines of Jesus also.
The story of the demoniac of the Gadarenes is packed full of lessons. Let me read the text and then we will make some comments. Mark 5:1-20 (NKJV):
Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes. 2 And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, 3 who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, 4 because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him. 5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones.
6 When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him. 7 And he cried out with a loud voice and said, “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment me.” 8 For He said to him, “Come out of the man, unclean spirit!” 9 Then He asked him, “What is your name?” And he answered, saying, “My name is Legion; for we are many.” 10 Also he begged Him earnestly that He would not send them out of the country.
11 Now a large herd of swine was feeding there near the mountains. 12 So all the demons begged Him, saying, “Send us to the swine, that we may enter them.” 13 And at once Jesus gave them permission. Then the unclean spirits went out and entered the swine (there were about two thousand); and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and drowned in the sea.
14 So those who fed the swine fled, and they told it in the city and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that had happened. 15 Then they came to Jesus, and saw the one who had been demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. 16 And those who saw it told them how it happened to him who had been demon-possessed, and about the swine. 17 Then they began to plead with Him to depart from their region.
18 And when He got into the boat, he who had been demon-possessed begged Him that he might be with Him. 19 However, Jesus did not permit him, but said to him, “Go home to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He has had compassion on you.” 20 And he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him; and all marveled.
This story is a culmination of Jesus being on the offensive against Evil. Over the years, Christians have been too nice to the Evil. When Evil wanted to take prayer and Bible study out of public schools, we “went along to get along” and gave in. When Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in America, we went silent. After all, we must submit to the government, so we can’t argue with the Supreme Court. Yet, the Constitution tells us we can publically assemble and challenge our government. According to the Declaration of Independence, there is a time when we may need to throw off the old government and establish a new one.
In the final verses of Mark 4, Jesus determined to go to the "other side" of the Sea of Galilee and take His disciples to the pagan side. Jesus knew what He was doing to combat evil in Satan's stronghold. Along the way, He calmed the storm that had erupted to stop Him.
I want you to notice from Mark 5:2 that Jesus was the only one to get out of the boat once they reached the shore. Notice:
2 And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit,
Were the disciples afraid? Most likely. They held on to their security within the boat, perhaps so they could make a fast get-away if necessary.
Jesus shows no fear in going to the other side and facing Satan and his minions, the demons. Neither is He afraid of the demon-possessed man. Jesus went to rescue the man out of compassion and is on the same mission today to save us from the clutches of the Adversary.
As the story unfolds, Jesus makes the demons identify themselves. Knowing whom an exorcist confronted could enable him to control the Satanic horde. A “legion” possessed the man, and Jesus was more powerful than they. As God in the flesh, He had power even over the demons. Jesus cast them into the pigs, who hurled themselves into the Sea and drowned.
I recently heard an account of a man who escaped Communist Cuba on a sailboard. The man spent ten hours on the board sailing from Cuba to Key West, Florida. The Coast Guard picked him up and helped him with his paperwork so that he could stay in America. Eventually, the man served in our military and made his home in America.
The man retold his story and said he was willing to drown at sea as a free man rather than live under Communism. He cannot fathom why Americans want to be Socialists or Communists after his and his family's deprivation in Cuba. The only conclusion I can reach is that the media and our education system have brainwashed Americans to want an ungodly system over a God-based one.
It seems the pigs preferred drowning in the sea rather than living under the control of the demonic entities. Perhaps that is why the demoniac cut and abused himself to die rather than be under the legion's power.
Do you find it interesting that when the people saw that Jesus had restored the demoniac to his senses, they wanted Him to leave? That is nothing new; ungodly people resist and reject the presence of God in all circumstances. God blessed America and gave us a nation unlike any other. Today many are doing everything in their power to send God away from the Republic.
We have lost our collective minds to reject God and are possessed by a new legion. We make evil acceptable and the acceptable, evil (Isaiah 5:20). We embrace the most odious immoralities that cost the lives of the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah, and we even celebrate it in a "pride month." Deceased Combat Veterans get one day, and the grossly immoral get a month, proving our insanity.
Jesus always cooperates with us. If we want Him as our Lord, He will stay and lead us. If we reject Him, He will let us go. Jesus began to leave the Gadarenes when the former demoniac addressed Him.
Unlike the rich young ruler and others who rejected the opportunity to follow Jesus, this man asks to join Jesus' crew of disciples. Wisely, Jesus told the man to stay where he was and tell his story to his family and friends. This former pagan gentile would not find acceptance among the Jews to whom Jesus preached.
Jesus gave him another mission, to tell what the Lord had done for him to his friends and family on the "other side." The man obeyed Jesus and told his story. He was so effective in his ministry that his community "marveled" at what Jesus had done for him.
Jesus made a difference in the life of the demoniac. The formerly possessed man became the new and improved version of himself. He can do that for any of us even today. We can be a better rendition of ourselves with the presence and power of Jesus in our lives. We can fulfill the same mission and tell others what the Lord has done for us, too.
That same principle holds for the nation. If we have God's presence and power in our nation's life, we will be a new and improved version of America. Jesus can cast the evil out of our country and restore our Republic to health.
To accomplish this, we must begin as individuals humbly appealing to God as His followers. We must stop dabbling and be the disciples Jesus calls us to be, just like our Founders.
If you go back and read our Founders' speeches, you will see that they ooze with scripture. Their first impulse was prayer at the Continental Congress's opening and places like Valley Forge.
George Washington led Congress and his Cabinet to worship after his inauguration. Thomas Jefferson rode his horse to church in the Capitol Building every Sunday to set an example for Americans.
Let us follow the example of the Lord's disciples in scripture and early America to become all God wants us to be in Him. We will "speak the truth in love" and "stand firm" against the devil's wiles.
Keep The Light of True Discipleship Burning!
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