The Cycle of Discipleship – October 26, 2014

Mark 3:13 – 19; 6:7 – 13

Introduction:

Last week I started to talk about discipleship and the very cost of this calling. It’s not for the faint of heart! But the rewards, the rewards are beyond anything that we could ever imagine. You see, when each of us accepted Jesus Christ as our personal savior, we became His disciple, His student. Not for a semester, not for a year, but for the duration of our time spent here. The longer we live, the more we see that life is a cycle. Fall turns to winter, winter to spring and spring to summer only to return again next year. Even if we look at our daily lives, morning gives way to the day, which slowly fades into evening and then night; which again welcomes the morning. We have 24 hours in a day, seven days in a week, and fifty-two weeks in a year. Our spiritual life is a cycle too and never standing still. Understanding this cycle will help you to understand where you are and how God wants to use you. From looking at the life and ministry of Jesus’ disciples we begin to see the cycle of discipleship.

  1. Spending time with Jesus
  2. The first thing Jesus wanted from His disciples was their time.
  3. “And He went up on the mountain and called to Him those whom he desired, and they came to Him. And He appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach” (Mark 3:13, 14)
  4. The first thing Jesus wants from you when he calls you is your time.
  5. He is more concerned about your walk with him than he is with your work for him.
  6. He would rather you hang out with him than burn out doing ministry for him.
  7. He is more interested in doing something great for you instead of you doing something great for him
  8. Jesus wants your time, and no time spent with Jesus is wasted time!
  9. When was the last time you spent in the Scriptures, being in prayer, or singing praises to him in your car? (or even your scooter!)
  10. Learning through experience (Mark 3 – 6)
  11. Even though Jesus chose his disciples in chapter 3, he doesn’t sent them out until chapter 6. A lot happens in chapters 3 to 6.
  12. The disciples are with Jesus every step of the way.
  13. Jesus encounters Beelzebub, teaches in parables, calms a mighty storm, heals a man possessed by demons, raises a young girl from the dead, heals numerous sick people, and gets rejected in his home town.
  14. These experiences were invaluable to the disciples when they are sent out by Jesus to do ministry on their own.
  15. Master teachers give their students experience
  16. It is one thing to learn through memory and another to learn through experience.
  17. Right now, wherever you are, whatever you are doing, Jesus is teaching you something
  18. Are you learning the lessons He is trying to teach you?
  19. God will use all situations, even the really tough ones, to teach you incredible truths
  20. Doing ministry for Jesus (Mark 6:8 – 11)
  21. After sufficient time had gone by and the disciples had been taught through experience, Jesus sent them out.
  22. Jesus sent his disciples out to put into practice what they had learned.
  23. What good is learning if you don’t apply it?
  24. He gave them authority to do everything He had been doing.
  25. 8He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts—9but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics.10And he said to them, “Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there.11And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.”
  26. It is no accident that you are where you are, doing what you are doing, experiencing what you are experiencing.
  27. God wants you to use all of your experiences, and all of your gifts and talents to serve others and to tell of His grace and mercy.
  28. Spending time with Jesus (Mark 6:30)
  29. The cycle starts all over again.
  30. 30The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught.
  31. The step is extremely important.
  32. You cannot continue ministering for Jesus if you do not take time out to spend with Him.

Conclusion:

So today we saw how discipleship is a never ending cycle that we follow. Now it doesn’t mean that we are stuck going around and around doing the same things every time. Because as you go through this cycle, you are growing, maturing and strengthening your faith. You build upon the experiences that the Lord has given to you to progress to that which we have been called. A disciple of Jesus will submit themselves to this cycle, without skipping a step or spending too much time on one. If we too follow like the early disciples then how much better our spiritual growth and our relationship with our Lord. Take joy in the great plan that God has for your life and may He be glorified in all that you do. And take an even greater joy in the time you spend with Jesus as you return and tell him of all you have done and taught.

2 Thess. 3:16, 18

16Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way.

18The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.