Come follow Me

Chris Kent

January 30, 2023

Summary
Jesus has called each one of us to follow Him and be His disciples. He has called us by name and spoken over us a prophetic promise and purpose; to be fruitfull and continue His mission.
A disciple is someone who has come to the place of the cross and forsaken their own life, goals, desires and taken hold of Jesus completely.

Read John 1:40-51 (NIV)

Jesus didn’t make a mistake or select a random group of people to follow Him. He called them by name with purpose and invited them to follow Him and be His disciples. To learn from Him. Follow Him and copy His ways. Both with Simon and Nathaniel you see that when Jesus calls them He has prophetic vision and insight into their character. Not their failings or their struggles or the mess of their past, but He sees them through the eyes of His saving grace and His redemption.

Salvation and discipleship are so closely related in the New Testament that they are seen as indivisible.
Salvation in our modern christianity is rightly seen as immediate and automatic but unfortunately discipleship is often seen as optional.

Jesus came and called you by name to follow Him and be His disciple. He called you with purpose and has spoken over you a prophetic destiny and calling.

You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in My name the Father will give you. —John 15:16 (NIV)

Discipleship isn’t just attending a church service but it is wholeheartedly following after Jesus and being obedient to the things He has called us to do. It is a complete reorientation of ones life centered around Jesus.
True discipleship is a call to radical obedience of Jesus and to His will. Not Jesus plus our views, not Jesus plus our modern philosophies and tolerances. It is radical obedience to Jesus and His teaching and a forsaking and intolerance of anything else.

Discipleship is not an option. Jesus says that if anyone would come after Me, he must follow Me. —Tim Keller

24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for Me will find it. —Matthew 16:24-25 (NIV)

Jesus’ call to discipleship is an all-or-nothing summons, reaching into every area of our lives. It involves giving him preeminence over the closest of our human relationships and over the desires we have for our lives.

To follow Jesus we have to first come to the cross and lay down our life. We lay down our plans, our ways, our thoughts and desires. We lay down our religion and every falsehood that says we can make ourselves right with God and we take hold of HIs death as ours so that we can take hold of His life as ours.

The call to follow Jesus and be a disciple is a call to enjoy Him and have fellowship with Him

He appointed twelve that they might be with Him —Mark 3:14a (NIV)

God is faithful, and by Him you were called to fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. —1 Corinthians 1:9 (NASB)

We have been called as disciples to enjoy Jesus, to walk by His side, to fellowship with Him. Jesus wants to walk with you, have fellowship with you and talk with you and share His heart and dreams with you.
It’s in that context of fellowship, union and maturing intimacy that we grow to recognize His voice and obey Him and He calls us to do the things He does.

The call of the disciple is to do the things that Jesus did

A student is not above the teacher; but everyone, when he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher. —Luke 6:40 (NASB)

Whoever claims to live in Him must live as Jesus did. —1 John 2:6 (NIV)

As disciples of Jesus we will progressively see our lives look more and more like Jesus. We will progressively step into the works and wonders of Jesus. We will be changed from glory to glory.
Some of us have been lied to, to settle for church membership when Jesus has called us to be His disciples.

God doesn’t call the equipped – God equips the called. —Unknown

We have all been called to be disciples of Jesus and the glory of the gospel is that we have been equipped with all need to fulfill the call. God isn’t a hard task master, He doesn’t call us to do things in our own strength, in our own gifting. He has equipped us by the gospel and by His infilling Spirit to have fellowship and unbroken Union with Him, He’s equipped us to live like Jesus and to do the works and wonders of Jesus and continue the mission of Jesus.

By His divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know Him, the one who called us to Himself by means of His marvelous glory and excellence. —2 Peter 1:3 (NLT)