Stay on Mission – 12th March 2018

Discipleship 1 – ‘Obedience’
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done. Matthew 16:23-27
If we are to join Jesus in His Mission it is imperative that we obey His frequently repeated call ‘Follow me’. Over the next few weeks I will be l looking at the vital need there is for true discipleship to be rediscovered in our own lives and in the life of the church across the world. I am convinced that this will be critical if we are truly to Join Jesus in His mission and make disciples of people who are beyond the walls of the church.
The words of Jesus are quite clear:
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me”.
As we consider these words I will be reflecting on how these were worked out in the life of Peter. It is important to say that neither Peter, or any of the 12 that followed Jesus during His earthly ministry are ‘super disciples’. Each person that follows Jesus as a disciple is required to be a dedicated follower. By considering the life of Peter as a disciple, I am not suggesting that he is a ‘model’ disciple rather that the things he experienced are likely to be faced by all who truly follow Jesus and Join Him in His Mission. Peter had to be a disciple so that he could be sent out to make disciples. This is just as true for each of us!
For Peter, it began at the outset of Jesus public ministry:
As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him. (Matt 4:18-20)
Has it ever occurred to you how life-changing this moment was for Peter? The scripture paints the picture so naturally: As Jesus was walking beside the sea of Galilee, he saw Peter (and Andrew) and said ‘follow me and I will send you out to fish for people’.
This life-changing challenge was presented by a person that Peter had never met! His response is quite extraordinary as he immediately left his nets and followed Jesus! Everything he had ever known was to be left behind and his whole life was to change out of all recognition. In spite of this he said yes!
Why?
Was he being reckless and crazy? Was the fishing industry in a state of decline and he was seeking a new career opportunity?
The simple, but enormously challenging explanation is, I believe, is a very uncomplicated one. The simple explanation is: ‘Peter was obedient’. For him, this was not an act of self-interest but one of absolute obedience to Jesus. He didn’t do it for what he was going to get out of it, he obeyed Jesus because He was Jesus!
The beginning of Peter’s life of discipleship presents a real challenge to many of us who call ourselves Christians. As I travel I meet so many Christians all over the world and one of the questions that I love to ask them is ‘how did you come to faith?’ The answer that I hear most frequently is something that is very different from Peter’s whole-hearted obedience. It is usually something like:
‘I heard the gospel preached and I didn’t want to go to Hell so I asked Jesus into my life to forgive me for my sins’.
What I am about to say will present a huge challenge to many who are reading this short devotion but it must be said. Many Christians began following Jesus by praying a ‘self-interested prayer’. Not a prayer of absolute obedience but a prayer that would lead to us receiving a gift. My observation is that the church is filled with people who have never obeyed Jesus unconditionally – for the mission of Jesus to happen this must change because there is a cost to following Jesus!
There is so much more that I want to say about this over the coming weeks but, this week, please take some time to read the passage at the beginning of this devotion and reflect on what it means for you to be a true disciple of Jesus.
Dennis