18 – 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.
19 – “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”
20 – At once they left their nets and followed Him.
21 – Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them,
22 – and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed Him.
My first “paying job” was that of a “disciple” of sorts. When I was fifteen there was an airman in our church in Dover and he had an upholstery business on the side. His name was Ed Villa. One summer Ed hired me as his apprentice—which is a good synonym for “disciple.” Every Saturday I spent the day following Ed’s footsteps as he re-upholstered everything from couches to cars. I was constantly watching Ed work, listening as he explained what he was doing—and also doing whatever he told me to do. I mean, Ed kept me busy not just learning the trade but removing old upholstery and re-gluing new upholstery when the job called for glue—he never did trust me with the sewing machine.
And—even his METHOD OF PAYMENT required me to be his disciple. You see, Ed paid me in GUNS. Don’t get the wrong idea—he wasn’t a gun runner or anything but as payment for my services he taught me to hunt and also gave me two guns that summer: a single shot .22 rifle and a 12 gauge shotgun. I never successfully bagged anything with the shotgun—in spite of Ed’s tutelage when it came to hunting deer and duck. But thanks to his patient instruction I did shoot a squirrel once and learned that like all meat that’s not beef—it tastes like—CHICKEN.
I don’t have the .22 anymore because when Ed got married and had a son he asked for it back so he could disciple his own son in the skills of squirrel hunting. And—I don’t have the 12 gauge anymore either—I gave it to my cousin in Alabama when I left for seminary—thinking correctly that my hunting days were over. But I am thankful for that summer working with Ed Villa. He taught me a great deal about the upholstery business and about hunting—-and we had a lot of fun to boot.
I share this part of my life because whereas I am no longer a “disciple” of Ed Villa—I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I have been one for 53 years now. Jesus is my Master—and Teacher. Do we have any other of Jesus’ disciples present this morning? Would you raise your hands? Today—as we continue our series on 2nd mile Christianity—I want us to look at the impact of going the extra mile when it comes to being what most of you are—a disciple of Jesus. Let’s begin with the basics. What exactly is a disciple of Jesus? What is involved in following Him through life? I want to hang my thoughts on two answers to this question.
(1) First, a Christian disciple is someone who has a growing and deepening RELATIONSHIP with God through faith in Jesus.
Just as my relationship/friendship with Ed grew over the summer—a disciple has a relationship/friendship with God Himself that grows and deepens. You see, contrary to popular opinion—Christian discipleship is not a RELIGION—it’s not memorized creeds or religious activity. No—first and foremost it is a RELATIONSHIP. A disciple is simply someone who has a relationship—a friendship—with our Lord that is alive and growing.
And the fact is—all people HUNGER for this kind of companionship with their Creator and Redeemer. The brilliant young French mathematician, Blaise Pascal, was absolutely correct when he said, “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every person and it can never be filled by any created thing. It can only be filled with God.” We were created to walk with God—designed to function best in relationship to Him. Because of this aspect of our design—all people can relate to Psalms 42 and 63 which say, “As the deer pants for water, so my soul pants for You, the living God…I earnestly seek You; my soul thirsts for You—my body longs for You—-in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”
And—all their lives people search to fill this void—this emptiness—that sin and separation from God has created. Sadly, many attempt to fill this void with the things of this world—and end up feeling even emptier than before. In fact, I want to show you a brief video interview of one of the quarterbacks from tonight’s Super-bowl—Tom Brady—who admits that in spite of the fact that he has it all, there is an emptiness in his life.
TOM BRADY 60 MINUTES VIDEO 1:32
Now—in the days of Jesus’ first disciples, people in Israel believed that the way to fill this God-shaped vacuum—the way to get close to God—was through a RABBI—because he was viewed as being the very epitome of how God’s truth was expressed through the Torah. So THEY initiated a relationship with a rabbi. They left everything they owned and asked him if they could live with him—learn from him. They would serve the rabbi, sit at his feet, watch him intently, follow him—in the hopes of going where their longing for God could be satisfied. So—it wasn’t that odd that Peter and the others would decide follow Jesus. After hearing Him teach and seeing Him do miracles—they saw Him as a rabbi who had unprecedented understanding of God’s truth. But what WAS contrary to popular practice of their day was the fact that JESUS initiated this relationship. HE invited these men to follow Him—they did not ask His permission to do so.
And this is a wonderful thing to note—because it reminds us that not only to we hunger and thirst for a relationship with God. He wants one with us as well!
By coming to seek and save the lost, Jesus showed that God has a personal interest in knowing all people. I like how Joe Stowell, puts it. He writes, “God lures each of us with persistent love into a deepening relationship with Him. He is God, and a relationship with Him literally EXPLODES with the love and leadership we LONG for.”
So discipleship is first and foremost a growing love RELATIONSHIP between our Lord and individuals who have accepted HIS invitation into a relationship by becoming Christians. Now all of us know that it can be challenging to have a meaningful friendship with another human being. It takes work and sacrifice to build and nurture or maintain a relationship. There’s a lot of give and take in any friendship.
Well—think of the frustration of trying to build a relationship with Someone Who is invisible and untouchable—a SPIRIT Who rarely speaks out loud—and when He does speak to us it is usually with a still, small voice.
So—how do you build a relationship with God, Who is unseen and pretty much unheard?
a. First, say “YES” to Him.
As He invites you into relationship—as He draws You with His great love—say yes by opening the door of your HEART. And to be clear—our “heart” is where we dream—where we think our inner-most thoughts. Think of it as CONTROL CENTRAL of your life. No one comes into that part of our lives unless we give them permission. The HEART is the core of who and what I am.
It’s what is left after all the masks come off. Well, Jesus wants to meet us there—in fact, He won’t meet us anywhere else because He wants a REAL relationship with the REAL me—the sinful, weak, afraid, me. And that in itself is amazing. I mean, being with other people can be exhausting because we feel we have to put up a front. We have to pretend. As Brady said in the rest of that interview, we have to put on the smiley face. We have to think of interesting things to say to make us feel like people want to be with us. We have to entertain. We have to dress right. And we all do this—we all wear masks and put up fronts when we’re around others. TIRING!
Well, instead of exhausting, it’s RELAXING to be with God because I don’t have to pretend I am smart or funny or brave in order for Him to be with me. I don’t have to work for His interest.
He is the PERFECT Friend because in His amazing grace He actually wants to know and relate to the REAL me—the imperfect me—just as I am. He wants what I need most—an HONEST relationship with Him. God is Someone I can really talk to—Someone I can cry with, laugh with, be afraid with—be REAL with. In fact, since He knows everything—including my thoughts—my HONESTY is required for this relationship.
Well, sadly, many Christians never develop this deep, satisfying authentic relationship with God. Yes—they repent of their sins and accept His forgiveness through Jesus’ death and resurrection but they stop there. Let me put it this way: When it comes to discipleship they go the first mile—but not the second. And because of this their relationship with God is shallow and weak. It does not satisfy and they hunger for more.
It’s like the story of the man who saved all his life so he could go on a week-long cruise on the Caribbean. Finally he had scrimped and saved just enough money and he purchased his ticket. He boarded the ship, found his cabin, and opened his suitcase which he had filled with crackers and peanut butter. Each day he would go out on deck and enjoy the sun and spectacular views but when it came time for meals, instead of following the other passengers to dining halls with chefs like these—he would return to his room for a meal of crackers and peanut butter. He hungered for so much more. His mouth would water as he smelled the sumptuous banquets prepared for each meal—steak—lobster—soups—salads—pastries—but he turned down all invitations to dine because he didn’t know that his ticket included meals. He was probably the only passenger who LOST weight on the voyage.
Well, many Christian disciples are just like this misinformed vacationer. They don’t realize that God offers us so much more than a ticket to Heaven when we die. He offers us a deep, meaningful, authentic, PERSONAL relationship in the here and now. Do you remember Jesus’ invitation in Revelation 3:20? He says, “Behold I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with Me.”
Well, let me ask are you a “first mile disciple?” Are you a “peanut-butter and cracker” Christian? Or have you experienced the joy and abundance that comes from following Jesus the extra mile into the REAL relationship with God that we all hunger for?
b. This leads to a second way to build a relationship with our invisible God—by simply SPENDING TIME with Him.
And this should make sense because all relationships are built on communication and closeness—TIME. So to build a relationship with God requires regular conversations with Him through prayer and by reading His Word. I mean, we need a daily quiet time—time spent alone with God—but to go the extra mile we need more than that—we need a continual prayer-without-ceasing kind of lifestyle. We need to literally walk through our days in conversation with Him—and the more we do this—the more time we spend with God the more our relationship deepens and matures.
This quantity of time principle is important because just as Ed Villa, supervised my growth as an upholsterer and a hunter, God guides our spiritual development. And that takes time. I’m sure I would have learned more about upholstery and hunting if I spent more than Saturdays with Ed.
Jerry Bridges puts it this way, “It is God Himself Who initiates and superintends our spiritual growth.” —and he does so the more time we spend with Him the more we learn and grow. You see this relationship we are building is not as much as TRYING to be like our Master as it is TRUSTING our Master—God—to MAKE us more like Him. Think of our Heavenly Father as the Architect/Construction Foreman of our lives, supervising every detail of the building up of our faith. The more we talk to Him and read His Book—and listen to His still small voice, the more we experience the benefit of this. Second-mile disciples must embrace this principle so they make time to be with God. They invite Him into their busy schedules.
c. This leads me to mention the best way to know our invisible God—JOIN Him in His WORK.
Live your life as a co-laboring with God—seeking to further His kingdom in everything you do—in the way you interact with your co-workers and neighbors, in the way you treat your spouse and raise your children.
As those of you who have studied, Experiencing God know, Henry Blackaby says that Christians shouldn’t ask God’s will for their life—rather they should ask what His will is and join Him in it. He’s right—and the more we do that—the more we work WITH GOD in all aspects of our lives—the better we know Him.
Any mission trip team member will tell you this—in fact I heard this theme in the testimonies I listened to from our recent DR Trip. I’ve heard the same thing from Morroco team members and Ocean City team members. I’ve experienced the same thing myself. It is as those 72 disciples said after they came back from the first ever mission trip. They joyfully told Jesus: “Lord, even the demons submit to us in Your name!” Being a co-laborer with God—whether it involves preparing a sermon or teaching VBS on a mission trip—or joining Him in His work at your place of employment—it’s an exciting thing because it teaches us so much about Him. It deepens our friendship better than anything else. For example, the more we join God in ministering to children or helping people with physical needs or sharing our faith in the divine appointments He sets up, the more we listen to His guidance in these things—and rely on His strength—the better we know Him—and—the more exciting and abundant our life becomes.
I know I don’t look like it but I played JV football in High School. I was pretty much a second stringer, which means you don’t get to play much. I was complaining about that and a friend of mine who was much more athletic than I gave me some great advice. He said, “Mark, any time the coach says he needs someone—volunteer. Hop off the bench right away and excitedly say, ‘I’m ready coach. Put me in.’” Well, I took his advice and it worked. I got a lot more playing time than my other second string friends because I got off the bench. Well, sadly many Christians never do that—they stay on the sidelines and just admire and applaud the “main players”—the spiritual superstars like Bill Hybels and Billy Graham and Bill Bright—all the “Bills and Billys” out there. Because of that they never get to know God as well as they could. They never join Him in His work. They just admire those who do. When it comes to discipleship they just go the first mile and then they bench themselves.
So—back to our question. What is a disciple? As disciple of Jesus is someone who has a growing relationship/friendship with God. But it’s more than that.
(2) As I have alluded, a maturing Christian disciple is someone whose relationship with God has led to a radical REFORMATION of their conduct and character.
2nd mile disciples let their relationship with God change them. They commit to a process of patterning their lives after Jesus Himself. As Paul puts it in 2nd Corinthians 3:18, “We who reflect the Lord’s glory are being transformed into His likeness.”
Sue and I have been married 35 years and as I studied this week I thought of all the ways that these years with Sue has helped me be more like her. For example: before I met Sue I had never tasted Mexican food. I’d never had a taco or burrito. I had no idea what a refried bean was—but now I love those things! Before I met Sue I was a milk chocolate fan—now I’m a DARK chocolate guy—100%! I mean before her I was really missing out when it comes to the best flavor of chocolate!
But there have been far more important changes. For example, being with Sue has made me more of a GIVING person—because Sue is the most giving person I know. In fact, I remember our first fight was over giving. We had only been married a few weeks. We were in seminary—money was tight—food was a precious thing. We always took a calculator with us to the grocery store and added up what we put in the cart—to make sure we would have enough in our bank account to cover the cost of all that food when we got to the register. So—the first time we were invited to supper by someone in our church—well in my mind that was a wonderful thing! It was like deducting the cost of one meal from grocery bill. It saved us much needed money! Yippee! But then Sue said we’d need to take a gift when we went for our “free meal” and I thought—NO—because that would negate the financial benefit of going! Besides, I pointed out that they invited us—they knew we’re struggling—so no gift. We went back and forth—but in the end Sue won and we took a gift. But in doing that I began to experience more of the joy of giving. It felt good to give that gift to our hosts. I saw the smiles on their faces when we presented the gift and I liked it! And over the years, with Sue’s help in things like this, I’ve learned we can never out-give God. So invite us to dinner—we’ll bring a gift!
My point is that Sue has helped me to become a better person—and I hope she would say the same thing about me. But my relationship with God through faith in Jesus has been far more RADICALLY life changing—far more beneficial. I mean, God and I have had disagreements about how I should do things—but He has been patient with me and as I have humbled myself to His will—-little by little He’s used everything in my life—the good the bad—to sculpt my character to be more like Jesus—and of course that is the GOAL of being His disciple. As Romans 8:29 says, “For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.” Maturing disciples—2nd milers—understand this principle so they stop struggling to obey God. They learn to yield full control of their desires and decisions to Him.
They repent of their sin and give Him the right He deserves to do deep cleaning and major remodeling in their lives. Growing disciples pray as King David did in Psalm 139, “Search me Oh God and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.”
NOW, LET ME SAY TWO THINGS ABOUT THIS RADICAL REFORMATION
A. First, it takes TIME.
We don’t become like Christ overnight. In fact we won’t be completely like Him until we join Him in eternity. That’s one reason Christians rejoice at funerals—because a brother or sister has completed their lives. They’ve crossed the finish line in the journey toward Christlikeness! This is what Paul is talking about in Philippians 1:6 when he says, “The One Who has begun His good work in you will go on developing it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
As I’ve said before “disciple” means “learner” not “expert.” Discipleship is a commitment to a life-long process of reformation. Comedian Yakov Smirnoff once said that when he first came to the U.S. from Russia he wasn’t prepared for the incredible variety of INSTANT products available in American grocery stores. He said, “On my first shopping trip, I saw POWDERED MILK—you just add water, and you get milk. Wow. Then I saw POWDERED ORANGE JUICE—you just add water and you get orange juice. Amazing! And then I saw BABY POWDER and I thought to myself, ‘What a country!’”
Well, many times we expect to become like Christ this fast—instantly at conversion. But we need a radical reformation to be like Jesus—and that takes time—a LIFE-time. As Howard Hendricks put it, “Disciples are MADE not born.” Saul met Christ in an instant of time on that road to Damascus but he didn’t become Paul until several years of mentoring and study had passed. Reformation takes time.
b. Secondly, it is COSTLY.
Salvation is free but following Jesus and experiencing this wonderful relationship with God what we all yearn for will cost us. Remember, Jesus said, “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.” In John 15 Jesus explained why it’s costly—why crosses are inevitable. He said, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.”
The more we become like Christ, the less we are like the world around us and with this radical change comes a cost. We have to give up sinful habits that we developed before we became Jesus’ disciples. We may lose friends who cannot understand the way our RELATIONSHIP with God changes our lives. We may not get promotions at work because we refuse to do things that are unethical.
But you know, here in America, these kinds of “crosses” we bear are made of balsa wood compared to the crosses that Christians have to carry in other nations. Today more people are dying as martyrs for their faith in Jesus—more disciples are suffering than in all other years combined. I wish we could get that fact in our head—our brothers and sisters are dying for their faith. We need to pray for them.
I heard this week that Jews are leaving Europe because they fear another holocaust at the hand of Muslim extremists. But Muslims are not just persecuting Jews—they are doing this to Christians too. Listen—I believe the Jews are right. Another holocaust IS coming but I believe it will be primarily aimed at followers of Jesus.
Asian Access (or A2), a Christian missions agency in South Asia, listed a series of questions that some church planters have been asking new believers who are considering baptism. (Due to safety concerns, Asian Access does not mention the country’s name.) The country is predominantly Hindu, but over the past few decades Christianity has grown in popularity—especially among poor and tribal peoples. The following seven questions serve as a reality check for what new followers of Jesus might experience if they decide to “go public” with their decision to follow Christ:
- Are you willing to leave home and lose the blessing of your father?
- Are you willing to lose your job?
- Are you willing to go to the village and those who persecute you, forgive them, and share the love of Christ with them?
- Are you willing to give an offering to the Lord?
- Are you willing to be beaten rather than deny your faith?
- Are you willing to go to prison?
- Are you willing to die for Jesus?
The seven questions serve as a sobering reminder for all Christians from every continent of what it might cost us to follow Jesus in coming years.
Missionary Karen Watson understood this. She counted the cost of following Jesus. That’s why she left a letter with her pastor before going to Iraq. She went to provide humanitarian relief in the name of Jesus—but she was gunned down in the country she came to serve. The letter began, “You’re only reading this if I died.” It included gracious words to family and friends, and this simple summary of following Christ: “To obey was my objective, to suffer was expected, His glory my reward.”
Are you willing to pay the COST of being a disciple—the price that comes with going the extra mile? I’m sure those who pay a high cost to follow Jesus would tell us that it is more than worth the cost—because serving God in hard times brings us closer to Him than anything else. He is indeed an “ever PRESENT help in time of trouble.” I mean, the greatest JOY as a Christian is experienced by those who pay the cost of following Him. This is what Paul was getting at when he said, “In all our troubles my joy knows no bounds.” (2nd Corinthians 4:7)
So, second mile DISCIPLESHIP involves a RELATIONSHIP and a REFORMATION. Which are you missing this morning? Do you know God personally? I’m not asking if you know ABOUT God or even ABOUT Jesus’ death on the cross. I’m asking do you know God PERSONALLY? DO you have a RELATIONSHIP with Him? You can! The Creator and Sustainer of the universe is literally knocking at the door of your heart right now. Open the door—say YES—because He wants to know you—the REAL you—He wants to be involved in your life.
You may have a relationship with God through Jesus and you have realized that it is not as strong as it needs to be. You haven’t tapped into the REFORMING power of God like you need to. Maybe you haven’t taken up your cross and followed God closely enough. Today would be a great day to commit to changing that.
You know, I believe we can’t go the second mile in discipleship on our own. We need other Christians to help us. So if you don’t have good church home—come ask to join Redland. We’d love to have you. Come now as God leads.