Following the Leader

Topic: Obedience/Discipleship


Following the Leader

You've trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. You're a new Christian. You have the gift of eternal life. Now you wonder, Is that all there is? If there's more, what's next?

You've started the greatest adventure of your life, and you want to do it right. What would Jesus tell you to do?

What Does God Say?

Your next step after receiving Christ is to begin growing as a disciple. A disciple is a follower of a teacher, and for a Christian that means Jesus. How do you become a disciple of Jesus? When you trust Christ as your Savior, He calls you to move forward in your Christian life, to follow Him and learn constantly from Him. He calls you to become like Him--to be one of His disciples.

Jesus says that being His disciple involves service: "If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him" (John 12:26 ESV).

But discipleship goes deeper than mere Christian service. Here are some other things Jesus said about being His disciple. Look at the following verses and write down the requirements Jesus gives for being a disciple. Ask yourself how each one affects you as a Christian disciple.

• John 8:31
• John 15:8
• John 13:35
• Luke 14:33
• Luke 14:27
• Luke 6:40

My Thoughts

If you're a disciple, then you've made some choices. You're willing to give up your life for your Teacher; you're willing to be taught, with the goal of becoming like Him; you're willing to hand over the reins of your life to Christ.

There's another word that is closely related to the word, "disciple." It is "discipline." One definition of discipline is "training that corrects, molds or perfects the mental faculties or moral character."

You will learn that there are several disciplines that will make you a better disciple. Let's look at just two of them:

In John 8:31, Jesus mentions abiding or dwelling in His Word. Here is what a noted Bible scholar says about the discipline of Bible study:

*"There can be no real discipleship apart from Bible study. Bible study is no option for Christians. It cannot even be a minor, occasional, or 'vacation time' pursuit. Bible study is the most essential ingredient in the believer's spiritual life, because it is only in study of the Bible as that is blessed by the Holy Spirit that Christians hear Christ and discover what it means to follow Him."

Another discipline that is vital to your growth as a disciple is prayer. *Oswald Chambers said: "The point of prayer is not to get answers from God; the goal of prayer is perfect and complete oneness with God."

My Part

Go before the Lord in prayer right now. Thank Him for the great salvation He has freely given you in Christ, then ask Him to make you the kind of disciple He wants you to be. Ask Him to make your daily time in His Word the core of your life as a follower of Jesus. Ask Him to change and mature you more and more into oneness with Him.

Someone has said "A Christian is a mind through which Christ thinks; a heart through which Christ loves; a voice through which Christ speaks; a hand through which Christ helps."

Does that describe your life?

*James Montgomery Boice, Christ's Call to Discipleship, p. 52.

* Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, (August 6).

What Does God Say?

My Thoughts

My Part

Applied Faith

Daily Bible Study

Topic: Jesus, Obedience/Discipleship, Faith/Trust

Applied Faith

Some people just love numbers! They revel in figures, formulas and statistics. They're grounded in the reality of facts, eager to determine concrete solutions for problems. And that's great....unless Jesus is asking for more.

What Does God Say?

In John 6:5-14, Philip, one of Jesus' disciples, was busy with figures and facts. They were in a hungry crowd, with no pizza delivery and no money to pay the bill. For Philip, the problem was this: 5,000 people + 5 loaves of bread + 2 fish=big disaster!

"Jesus said to Philip, 'Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?'.... Philip answered him, 'Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little'" (John 6:5, 7, ESV). And he was right. But Philip only saw the facts before him, so he crunched out his formula and came up short.

Jesus had another idea. Look at John 6:6, the verse we skipped, "He [Jesus] said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do" (ESV). Jesus knew what He was going to do; He just asked Philip to give this disciple an opportunity to grow in faith. Jesus wasn't asking for solutions--He already had one in mind. He was looking for a heart that would trust Him. Philip was so busy considering his options and obstacles that he completely forgot who he was talking to.

Someone, however, did have an inkling of faith's possibilities. John 6:8-9 says, "One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, 'There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?'" (ESV) Andrew saw something Jesus could work with, but he wasn't sure what was possible. But as Jesus said at another time, "What is impossible with men is possible with God" (Luke 18:27 ESV).

Faith doesn't ignore the facts; it just adds Jesus. Faith is confident in what Jesus can do, who He is and what He promises. It views the facts or numbers through the lens of Jesus' power and places them all into His hands.

My Thoughts

There were other times when Jesus looked for faith from people who were caught up in facts and circumstances.

Mark 2:1-12

Mark 7:24-30

John 4:46-54

John 9:1-7, 24-38

• What are the facts?
• How was someone required to exercise faith?
• What were the results?

My Part

So, what about you? Caught up in the facts or numbers of your circumstances? Are you lost in a problem which seems to have no formula or solution? Then take a few minutes to make some notes:

• What are the "facts" or "numbers"?
• Strip it down to the essentials.
• Can you see two or three ways you might take a step in faith?
• Then add those to your notes.

Now, take your notes to Jesus in prayer. Remember, it's not that you disregard the facts, but that you ask Jesus to take care of the equation. Ask Him for His help; give the "five loaves and two fish" into His hands.

What Does God Say?

My Thoughts

My Part

Do What Jesus Says

WWJD--that stands for: "What would Jesus do?" It's a great question. And in the Bible we see Him do a lot of things that give us an awesome example to follow. However, the Bible is packed with even more things Jesus said--His instructions for living. So, maybe the better letters would be DWJS—"Do what Jesus says."

What Does God Say?

The "Do what Jesus says" concept first shows up in John 2. As Jesus attends a wedding with His friends and His mother, the host family runs out of wine. His mother, Mary, thinks He should do something about it. Then in John 2:5 we read, "His mother said to the servants, 'Do whatever he tells you'" (ESV). I'm not sure what she anticipated but she said the right thing--do what Jesus says.

So, what did Jesus say we're to do? Read through the Gospels, and you'll find a wealth of instruction. Let's look at just a few we can "do" each day.

Matthew 4:19: "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." (ESV)

Matthew 5:16: "Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven" (ESV).

Matthew 6:31-32: "So don't worry about these things, saying, 'What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?' These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs." (NLT)

Luke 6:27-28: "But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you." (NLT)

Luke 6:37-38: "Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven. Give, and you will receive" (NLT).

Luke 17:3-4: "If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, 'I repent,' you must forgive him." (ESV)

My Thoughts

Throughout the Gospels, Jesus offers direct statements, illustrative stories or real-life examples that guide us through life. Matthew 5 and 6 is a teaching session Jesus had with His followers. Take a few minutes to read through these chapters.

• What attitudes does Jesus want you to cultivate? Which are hardest for you?
• How are you to treat other people? How well do you think you're doing with this?
• What instructions does He give for responding to those who don't treat you well?
• What does He say about your relationships with family? With people around you?
• What about your relationship with God?
• What do these actions say about your heart?

Read Matthew 7:24-27 and describe what happens when you hear and obey Jesus.

My Part

When you start "doing what Jesus says" instead of just asking what He'd do, you move from considering a suggestion ("Here's an example you might want to follow.") to obedience ("Act on my instructions."). Obedience is our positive response to God's Word to us. He speaks; we hear and we take action. And it flows out of love: when you love someone you want to do your best for him or her.

Obeying Christ shows Him that we love Him, and it's visible evidence to others as well. John 14:23-24 tells us, "Jesus answered him, 'If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me.'" (ESV) And by the way, Jesus was our best example of obedience, too--obedient to His Father in all things, even death (Philippians 2:8).

Do a self-check: Am I doing what Jesus says? Or just wondering what He'd do? Do I obey out of love? Do I take His instructions seriously and make them part of my life? Can anyone around me tell that I'm doing what Jesus says?

If this is a new idea for you or one you struggle with, ask Jesus for His help. Remember, He also says, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you" (Matthew 7:7, ESV).

What Does God Say?

My Thoughts

My Part