· As we head into this new season as a church, we believe that the Lord would have us use this change to help us all catch a fresh vision for our mission together as a local church.
· In one sense, it isn’t new, because since Jesus, God has called the church to the same mission, but it is a radical mission – a revolutionary mission that we are called to.
· The first part of our mission is: We are called to be Disciples of Jesus Christ.
John 8:30-36
· The greatest calling any of us can have is to truly be a disciple of Jesus Christ
· Whatever profession or occupation we end up doing, it doesn’t matter, unless we are disciples of Jesus Christ. Unless we are disciples, we will never truly be free to love God and live for Him.
· No matter what we end up doing, we will be slaves to our own sin, unless Jesus sets us free
Main Idea: True disciples of Jesus abide in Him and are truly free
1. Being a true disciple is more than mere belief· The little phrase “truly my disciples” means something significant
· Jesus is saying here that being a true disciple is more than mere belief.
· It means that there are not just two kinds of people - those who are His disciples and those who are not.
· There are three kinds of people – those who are not disciples, those who are true or real disciples, and those who are untrue disciples.
· It is possible for some to believe in Jesus and appear to be His disciples but at their root, they are not truly His disciples.
· The question for us is whether we are we true disciples of Jesus or not.
· It says in verse 30 that many believed in Him but by the end of the chapter we see that they were not truly His disciples.
· What Jesus is saying is that believing in Him alone doesn’t make someone a true disciple of Jesus
· Many people had come to Jesus and had seen the miracles He did – they saw the signs He performed and they believed that He was who He said He was.
· Maybe they were drawn in because a friend or family member had become a disciple or they believed in order to fit in with the crowd.
· But like in the case of these Jews who it says had believed in Him, they were not true disciples.
· We know this because in verse 44, he says that they are of their father the devil.
· What Jesus is saying is that it is not enough to just believe that Jesus is who He said He is. This isn’t real belief – this isn’t being a real disciple.
· Jesus is saying that we must have the kind of faith that abides in His Word – the kind of faith that is demonstrated by abiding in His Word.
· The test of a true disciple is whether you are abiding in His Word.
2. True disciples abide in His Word
· These verses are meant to function in a few ways.· They are meant to function for unbelievers – so that you might truly believe in Him and be set free from slavery – because whether you know it or not, you are a slave to sin if you are not truly a disciple of Christ
· In John 20:31, John tells us the whole purpose of his gospel – he says,
“these things are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing, you may have life in his name.”
· It was also written to help those who are already believers be encouraged as they confirmed their faith and grow in their faith.
· And lastly, it was written to wake people up who think they are disciples but aren’t.· When Jesus says, “if you abide in my word”, He means if you abide in Him.
· The test is if you abide or host fast to Jesus as He is revealed in His word.
· All that we know about Jesus we find in His Word – in everything that Jesus taught about Himself.
· Jesus told us that He is the bread of life – and earlier when we took communion we were outwardly symbolizing the fact that as true believers, we must eat of His flesh and drink His blood – we must trust in His sacrifice alone to give us life.
· Jesus said in John 6: 53-56
“…Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.”
· This isn’t a literal eating of flesh and drinking of blood – the Jews misunderstood it and many who believed in Him left Him after He said this.
· What Jesus was saying is that true belief in Him looks like trusting in His sacrifice for us. It looks like placing our hope, our belief and our security to stand before God, in His body that was broken for us and His blood that was poured out for us in order to satisfy the righteous requirements of God’s law. · It means trusting that our very life comes from His sacrifice for us and then living, abiding, holding onto, keeping our lives in this truth.
· Abiding in Jesus means when we are faced with the question (that Peter was in John 6:67-69) of whether we want to go away as well, that we truly can say in our hearts, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:68-69)
· It doesn’t mean that we have a flawless belief though. Peter didn’t – he denied Christ and was forgiven.
· In John 15:4 – Jesus equates abiding in His word with abiding in Him. And then he tells them that the reason He told them that if they abide in His commandments, they can be sure that they abide in Him – is so that their joy may be full.· What it means to abide in Christ is to deep down know that you wouldn’t want to go anywhere else other than Jesus and to live that way.
· It means wanting to do what Jesus taught and desiring to keep His commandments, (no matter how flawed you do), not to earn His love but because you love Him and want to worship Him with your life.
· If you believe this way, then no matter what doubts come (because they will), and no matter how you fail, you can be sure that you really are a true disciple, even though you fail like Peter did.
· In our main text, Jesus said something else remarkable, He said that if we abide in His word – we are truly His disciples and we will know the truth and the truth will set us free.
3. True disciples know the Truth and He sets us free
· John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
· We all want to be free. The heart of every human desires freedom.
· No one truly want to be enslaved forever with no hope of freedom.
· God has made the heart of mankind long for freedom and long for the truth of how to be truly free.
· Ever since Adam sinned, we have been enslaved to sin. In fact, Jesus told the Jews that anyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.
· But Jesus came to set us free from the bondage that we have to sin.
· Apart from Jesus, we are not able to stop sinning. But Jesus came to set us free from the bondage – the ownership that sin had over us and He came to break the power of sin through the truth of His word.
· Jesus tells us that He alone is the truth – He alone is the way to God – He alone is the life.
· Jesus was telling His disciples that if we abide in His Word, He is the truth that we will know and He will set us free.
· No other way is the true way to God.
· No other way brings us true freedom
· No other way brings us true life.
· Jesus alone is the way and He is the truth – He is the One who Himself defines what is true.
· The lie says that true freedom is having no restraints. But the truth is that Jesus’ commandments keep us safe – like a rope that is meant to keep a climber safe on the face of a cliff.
· The world tries to tell us that we can have freedom through drugs or drinking or sex or self-indulgence – but trusting in those things will only end in emptiness and death.
· The lie is that we can be truly fulfilled or have true happiness in other things.
· The lie tells us that we can be free if we make enough money or if we have enough friends or if enough people like us, or if we are famous or powerful or important we will have life and true freedom.
· The world says you have freedom if you can do what you want.
· But it isn’t real freedom if what you want will result in regret or death
· If doing something brings death to you, no matter how free it feels, you aren’t really free – it ultimately controls you.
· John Piper defines true freedom in his comments on these verses. He says,
“You are fully free—completely free, free indeed—when you have the desire, the ability, and the opportunity to do what will make you happy in a thousand years. Or we could say, You are fully free when you have the desire, the ability, and the opportunity to do what will leave you no regrets forever”
· Only living for Jesus can make us happy and leave us with no regrets forever.
· Jesus give us the opportunity to abide in Him· Jesus gives us the desire to live for Him and abide in Him
· And Jesus gives us the ability to live for Him and abide in Him
· Apart from Jesus, we are not free to choose eternal life and live for Him – we don’t want to live Him and we don’t have the opportunity to live for Him
· Jesus gives us the opportunity to believe and abide in Him, Jesus gives us the desire to abide in Him, He gives us the ability to abide in His Word and He gives us true life and freedom.
We can be truly free forever. Jesus said, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
· This is no temporary freedom – He promises us a real freedom for all those who are truly His disciples.
· Jesus calls us to be His true disciples and true discipleship in Christ Jesus guarantees us true freedom.
· Our desire – our mission, is to be a church full of real disciples – to be full of genuine disciples
· We don’t want to be fake disciples – to look good on the outside but not actually be rooted and abiding in Him
· Our God-given mission is to live daily as disciples – aware of our identity in Him – abiding in His word and living for Him.
· In the New Testament, the word for disciple or disciples is mentioned over 150 times to describe those who followed Jesus and were devoted learners or disciples of Him.
· Being a Christian means we are devoted learners of Jesus. Being a Christian means following Christ continually – abiding in Him, learning from Him, staying close to Him - living for Him.
· If we live this way – if we live aware of Jesus – if we live as if we are truly devoted to Him, following Him, learning from Him, living for Him – it will really change everything we do and say.
· You see, being a Christian is living like a free radical – not for our own pleasures – but living a radical life that is lived for Him.
· This is the kind of life that Jesus calls us to.
· Jesus came to set us free. He came to give us the opportunity and the desire and the ability to live and abide in Him.
· We could never somehow earn or keep His favor. Instead we abide in Him because we have been born again.
· For all those who put their trust in Jesus, He has given us His favor already. He has forever forgiven us, He has forever removed God’s wrath from us and forever taken the condemnation that we deserved. He has forever made us righteous in His sight. He has made us born again and given us life eternal and no one can take us from His hand.
· Doesn’t that make you want to live as His disciple?
Potential Application Questions:
1. Why is being a disciple of Jesus Christ the highest calling we could have?2. How have you abided (held onto, remained in) His Word in your life? Share testimonies about how you have abided in Him through testing, trials and difficulty.
3. If you do abide in (hold onto, remain in) His Word, how does it encourage you to know you are truly His disciple?
4. How can we eat of His flesh and drink of His blood in our lives?
5. How does Jesus’ promise that He (He is the truth) will set us free affect you and motivate you to want to follow Him?
6. Only living for Jesus can make us truly happy and leave us with no regrets forever. Where are you tempted to live for other things?
7. Why is living like a true disciple a radical call?
8. What would it look like to live each day more aware of your identity as a disciple of Jesus Christ than any other occupation?
9. What would living like a true disciple of Jesus really look like at your home, in your family, in church, in caregroup, at work, at school, etc.?
