JESUS CALLS HIS DISCIPLES PRIMARILY TO BE WITH HIM, AND AS A RESULT OF THAT TO GO OUT IN MINISTRY AND SERVICE.

In Discipleship Journal, Carole Mayhall tells of a woman who went to a diet center to lose weight. The director took her to a full-length mirror. On it he outlined a figure and told her, "This is what I want you to be like at the end of the program." Days of intense dieting and exercise followed, and every week the woman would stand in front of the mirror, discouraged because her bulging outline didn't fit the director's ideal. But she kept at it, and finally one day she conformed to the longed-for image.  

Daily Bread, August 8, 1990.

Mar 3:14  And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach 

Mar 3:15  and have authority to cast out demons. 

There were three purposes for which Jesus called / appointed the 12:

1. To BE with Him -- 

2. To preach -- 

3. To cast out demons.

Let us focus our attention on the first priority. The 12 disciples were PHYSICALLY near Jesus -- for 3 and a half years. They walked with Him when He went in public, they saw Him teaching thousands, they were there when He confronted the Religious Pharisees, when a Roman official came to Him and He healed - they saw it all. That’s why we have the four gospel accounts. These are EYEWITNESS accounts. The disciples were physically near to Jesus. They were given the mandate to preach and could cast out demons in Jesus name. But what is the Foundation, what’s the FIRST thing that Jesus APPOINTED THE TWELVE FOR? The NUMBER ONE PRIORITY of the disciple is to BE WITH JESUS 

 

We may say, “Okay, but today, how am I supposed to BE with Jesus”?

The Disciple’s Spiritual CORE IS Abiding in Jesus    (JOHN 15: 4,5)

Jn 15:4  Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 

Joh 15:5  I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 

DEFINITION -- The Oxford dictionary defines abiding as “continue without fading or being lost” -- it could refer to a memory, or a place or a person. 

“Abide in Jesus and Jesus abides in me” --  

Does Jesus continue in you and me? 

Is Jesus fading away to me? 

Is Jesus being lost to you and to me? 

This is where the ministry of the Holy Spirit is so vital for abiding in Jesus because the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, the Bible, are constantly pointing to Jesus.

This means walking in our daily life in such a way that we are confident that Christ would approve of our eating, drinking, sleeping, talking and everything else that we do. 

How about the financial transactions we have -- receipts with or without GST? Isn’t this a common temptation? Save a little money here and there? Isn’t Jesus watching? Or what we look at online? Are we distracted? Bored? 

It may be possible to stumble and fall -- but pick yourself up -- Peter and other disciples did fall, but they picked themselves up because Jesus was compassionate and prayed for them.

Their success is evident because all of us are a result of someone who was a disciple in the last 2000 years and they brought the gospel to us. So the fact that we are listening here this morning is PROOF that discipleship is successful.

Yes, we will sin and make mistakes. 

A lot of that happens when we are distracted.  

But let me take us back to the first reference from the Scriptures -- the key to avoiding this distraction is found in Isaiah 50;4,5 -- when we get up in the morning, God Himself will teach us and prepare us to know how to face the day ahead. 

Martin Luther, who was one of the leaders during the Protestant Reformation in Germany in the 1600s once remarked that he had so much to do in each day that he absolutely needed to pray for three hours or so in the morning. He drew strength from God directly in prayer -- though he was a very learned man. 

During the early 20th century, in the United Kingdom, Smith Wigglesworth was a plumber with a great ministry in healing sick people. He was born illiterate but learned to read the Bible from his wife -- it is said that the Bible was the only book Wigglesworth read. Here is one statement that he made:

“If it is in the Bible, it is so. It’s not even to be prayed about. It’s to be received and acted upon. Inactivity is a robber which steals blessings. Increase comes by action, by using what we have and know. Your life must be one of going on from faith to faith.”

(https://manoahswife.wordpress.com/2011/09/16/bits-of-smith-wigglesworth/  ) 

Let us not get stuck on not understanding what “Abiding” looks like in practice -- 

Can I OBEY Jesus? 

Can you COPY Jesus? 

Can you even take one verse of Jesus’ life and 

DO THAT? Is that impossible? 

So when the disciple remains in Jesus, Jesus will enable that disciple to bear much fruit.

But if a person does not remain in Jesus, he or she will end up doing nothing.  That means, the END RESULT will not amount to being FRUITFUL for God, for Jesus, and will not pass the scrutiny that God will judge all our activities and life with.

YES - - the bible often keeps reducing the options of life to TWO choices in black or white. 

We must reflect deeply about the cost of following Jesus -- this is all in the final analysis -- Do you want your life to be fruitful or to be nothing? (Jesus is not saying here to the disciples that they will lose their salvation, but even many Christians live a life without doing really significant things for Jesus -- they may reach heaven, but is their earthly life just “nothing” or is it ‘bearing fruit”)

So that’s what Jesus Was saying THEN, 2000 years ago -- to the disciples, and today, in 2019 -- Jesus says to you and I “ Abide in me”. 

Note :- From the Sermon notes - Series on Discipleship - by Dr. Anil Jacob for Crossway. 

Stanley Thomas Isac

Stanley is serving as the Pastor of Crossway Church in New Delhi, he can be reached at stanleytisac@gmail.com