The sermon titled 'Following Jesus: The Core of Discipleship' emphasizes that true discipleship involves a profound commitment to following Jesus Christ above all other roles in life such as career, family, and citizenship. It begins with a call to abandon oneself to Christ, recognizing the need for His mercy due to the barrier of sin. The speaker draws a distinction between the original 12 disciples and modern believers, noting the unique experiences of the former, but asserting that the core call to follow Jesus remains the same. Discipleship is portrayed as a lifelong journey where Jesus demands full control, shaping individuals into His likeness. The sermon underscores the importance of the Great Commission, which tasks disciples with spreading the teachings of Jesus and making new disciples. It urges believers to prioritize Jesus above all else and to view discipleship as a central life pursuit rather than a mere hobby.

My topic this morning is following Jesus, the core of discipleship. We're talking about discipleship and that simply means to follow Jesus Christ. I want to begin our time this morning with a question. The question is this, sons, what kind of men are we raising you to be? Your boys, we're not raising you to be boys, you already know how to be boys.

We're raising you to be men. What kind of men are we raising you to be? There's actually a multitude of answers. There's not one answer to that question. There's a bunch of answers to that question.

We're raising you to be a kind of son, especially to your mother and how you relate to your mom. We're raising you to be a career man. A man who's going to make his way in the world and make a living for himself and probably for a family. We're raising you to be a certain kind of husband. We're raising you to be a certain kind of father.

We're raising you to be a certain kind of husband, we're raising you to be a certain kind of father, we're raising you to be a certain kind of citizen. Hopefully, who will stand for righteousness in a country that is going in a very different direction. We're raising you to be a certain kind of churchman who will relate to a local church in a certain way. But I want to declare that all that is so very secondary. What kind of man you will be, career man, son, husband, father, citizen, churchman you will be is secondary.

Those things only have meaning once the primary thing is a reality. So those things do have meaning, but they don't have meaning until the primary thing is a reality in your life and that primary thing is abandoning yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ, to being brought to a place where you understand in your heart of hearts with the greatest certainty that you are in desperate need, that your sins stand between you and a perfectly holy God, and there is nothing that can remedy that except that you would throw yourself on Christ with all that you are for His mercy. Once you've done that then these other things that we're trying to make you into as men have meaning until then they don't have any meaning. Here's a roadmap for our time. It would take you five places.

Number one, the call of Jesus' disciples. So There were 12 men who actually have the title of disciples in the New Testament. We're going to watch Jesus call them. Number two, the ways in which we're different than them. We're not like those men in certain ways.

Number three, the ways in which we're the same than them. We're actually exactly the same as them in other ways. Number four, the relationship of father-son, the father-son relationship, the reason why we're here this weekend, to Matthew chapter 28 in the Great Commission and then 5 I'll make an urgent appeal. Let's pray. God the Father-Son Retreat is so fun in different ways, and I'm thankful for that, but we also pray for holy moments.

Moments when we are in your presence and have a clear sense of it and have a clear sense that important things from your word are being communicated, things that we dare not miss. And I pray that these would be some of those holy moments now. Give us holy moments, please, God. Don't let the weekend come and go without important things being said and really heard. I pray in Jesus name, amen.

Okay, number one, the calling of Jesus' disciples. Turn to Matthew chapter 4. I'll be starting in verse 17. Matthew chapter 4, starting in verse 17. In some ways these 12 men that Jesus called are prototypes.

What's a prototype? A prototype is when you take something from being an idea and you turn it into a reality. You make one. It's the first of a kind. You don't intend to just make one, but you start by making one and then it becomes the standard by which you can make the rest of the kind.

So really, these are the first followers of the Promised Messiah and so they're the first of a kind Jesus didn't just plan to make 12 disciples He planned to make and is making millions of disciples but these are the first of the kind and you actually use the prototype to learn about what the following ones should be like. So this is important and instructive to us. Matthew chapter 4 verses 17 through 22. From that time Jesus began to preach saying and to say repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. So here he's just been brought out of the wilderness where he was tempted by the devil, and the Holy Spirit is really launching him into his public ministry.

And so he starts his preaching here, verse 18, and Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. Then he said to them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. They immediately left their nets and followed him. Going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father mending their nets. He called them and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him." So this is the calling into discipleship of two sets of brothers.

Peter and Andrew were brothers, James and John were brothers. That brings us to the word disciple. You use that in your everyday language? You don't. When was the last time?

Outside of a Sunday school setting or a church setting that you use the word disciple. We don't really use it. What does it mean? Well the Greek word simply means a learner, a pupil, a student, and it's used 269 times in the New Testament. So it's everywhere.

We are called believers in the New Testament, but more often we're called pupils or students of the Lord Jesus Christ. The followers of Jesus are called disciples more than they're called anything else 269 times in the New Testament. That means over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. We're called students of Jesus. So here in our text when Jesus says follow me and I will make you, I mean he finishes that sentence as a fisher of fishers of men but we don't even need to finish the sentence.

This is about Jesus making you. Follow me and I will make you. I will teach you. I will instruct you. I will make you into the thing that I'm forming you into.

I will shape you. And then going forward what will they call Jesus? Will they call him Jesus? No, the disciples never called Jesus Jesus. They call him Teacher, they call Him Master, they call Him Lord.

And this just reflects the discipleship relationship that He is as Teacher and Master and Lord shaping them from what they were into what he is forming them into. Now what happens in this text? Jesus calls for control of these men's lives. Just make no mistake about what's happening here. He's saying, give me control of your life.

So not follow me down the shoreline, but come and live with me for the next three and a half years and listen to what I say to you and to the multitudes and watch me and do exactly what I tell you to do. He is calling for control of their lives and they respond decisively. He says follow me and they drop what they're doing and they follow Him. Furthermore, Jesus calls them from their business to His business. So the things that were primary to their lives many days up until that point becomes secondary and they take on his business because they are putting themselves into his hands to be shaped into what he wants to form them into.

Their business to his business. Now turn to Luke chapter 5. It's just another account of Jesus calling more and more of these 12 men. Luke chapter 5 verses 27 through 32. Luke 5, 27 through 32.

After these things, he, Jesus, went out and saw a tax collector named Levi. We know him as Matthew. Sitting at the tax office. And Jesus said to him, Follow me. So he left all, rose up, and followed him.

Then Levi gave him a great feast in his own house, and there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them. And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against his disciples, saying, Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? Jesus answered and said to them, Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick Have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance We have the same words here he utters exactly the same words follow me and we have the exact same decisive response of Matthew. It says he leaves all and he follows Jesus. And again, not just to a place, like walk with me to a place, but this is a call to hand over life control to Jesus and he does it.

Here's my observation. There was not, in the calling of these disciples, there was not to be a separate world for Jesus. The Jesus space. Not Jesus world beside work world, beside friendships world, besides family world, besides hobbies world. It was going to be Jesus world and then everything else was under it.

A part of this one world where Jesus takes control and Jesus teaches and instructs and makes and shapes. Like if you don't want that, you don't want to be a disciple of Jesus because that is what he called these men to. So that's one, kind of a front row view to the Jesus' calling of these twelve men that we know as Jesus' disciples in the Gospel accounts. Number two, the ways in which we are different than them. So, I consider myself a disciple of Jesus.

I have for more than 40 years now. I'm not exactly like them. They spent three and a half years all day every day with the incarnate bodily God man face to face. They could touch him, they could audibly hear his voice. Are any of you going to do that?

Pretty sure I'm not going to do that. That's a different kind of description than the way I'm going to be described at any time in my lifetime. They were there on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out so that they received power to preach and then do signs to prove that their preaching was from heaven so the multitudes who were hearing their preaching would know that these are just the opinions of men but it's backed up by power from heaven and they went and they turned the whole world upside down again that they can accurately be described that way. I'm not going to be able to be described that way. Matthew and John wrote scripture.

I'm not going to write scripture. In Matthew 19 Jesus says to the 12 disciples that they'll sit on 12 thrones judging Israel. One of those is not reserved for me. In Revelation 21 there are twelve foundation stones of the New Jerusalem. They're named after the twelve apostles.

None of those foundation stones are going to be named after me. In Ephesians 2 they are called the foundation of the church. Jesus is the chief cornerstone and these apostles form the foundation upon which the building is built. All of that is true of the disciples, none of that is true of me. So it's not one for one these twelve disciples in the gospel in me.

So that brings us to number three, the ways in which we are the same as them. It's fine to acknowledge we are not exactly like them. That doesn't mean that there aren't ways in which we are exactly like them. And that is definitely true from studying the New Testament. First the name fits.

The other people, many, many other people in the New Testament outside these 12 men were called disciples. And they're the kind of people who fit more of the description than I fit. And they're simply learners, students, pupils of the Lord Jesus Christ. As a disciple, my calling is to follow Jesus. So fundamentally, at a fundamental level, the calling to them, follow me, is the calling to me.

Follow Him. So while the outward expression might be different and I might not be doing miracles to prove that my preaching is from heaven, I too am a follower of Jesus. So the fundamental calling is the same. I turn to Luke 14. Luke 14 really puts a fine point on it.

Luke 14 verses 25 through 30. Notice the word disciple in the text, it's exactly what we're talking about, and notice who Jesus is talking to. Luke 14 verses 25 through 30. Now great multitudes went with him, great multitudes went with Jesus and he turned and said to them, if anyone comes to me If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers children, brothers and sisters, yes, his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

For which of you intending to build a tower does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it, lest after he has laid the foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build and was not able to finish. Who is Jesus speaking to here? Not the 12. The multitudes. Not a small group, a multitude of people.

He's saying if you don't hate your father and mother, your wife, your children, even your own life, you cannot be my disciple. If you do not take up your cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple you are not my learner you are not my pupil you are not my student I am NOT your instructor your teacher the one who is making you and shaping you you are not my disciple. So never ever ever think Jesus made radical claims on these 12 men, but His claims on me are diminished. They are not diminished. The call to discipleship is call to control your life.

To make you and shape you into whatever he wants to make you into and form you into. Stephen Curtis Chapman has a song named Whatever. And a line from the song is, all you really want from me, what does Jesus want from me? All you really want from me is whatever. All he really wants from you is whatever it is he says to you, that's what he wants.

So all is actually what he wants from you. Whatever he calls you to you are bound to as his disciple. His claims are radical on the 12th, his claims are radical today to anyone who will be his disciple. And the song goes on, Stephen Curtis Chapman says, I'll obey, whatever. I hope that makes you uncomfortable.

It should make you uncomfortable. If that doesn't make you uncomfortable you are not understanding the radical claims that Jesus Christ makes on his disciples yet. Think about it until you get uncomfortable. All Jesus Christ wants from you as his disciple is whatever. It's making me uncomfortable preaching it.

Listen to what Paul says, 1 Corinthians 6 20. Memorize it. 1 Corinthians 6 20. Paul says to disciples, for you were bought at a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God's. How do you become a disciple?

Jesus Christ buys you. He bleeds and dies to buy you out of sin and condemnation. He gives His life to make you a disciple. If He doesn't bleed and die, you cannot be His pupil. He has no need for you in your defiled state.

You're not doing him any favors. You have nothing he needs. He bleeds. He dies to bring peace between you and God. And then He undertakes to shape and fashion you into something when you were nothing until he bled and died for you.

And then you follow him. Dear, dear sons, Being a disciple of the Lord Jesus is no hobby. It is not, this is a part of my life. This is what I'm doing in this category of life. Being a disciple is your life!

Or you're not a disciple. It is your life. It is a life-long obsession. You are obsessed with following Jesus, with being shaped by Jesus. He is the Lord Jesus.

We say these things so often that they lose the punch. He is the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord. He leads you follow. He teaches you learn.

He commands you obey. Why? Because He bought you out of condemnation with His own blood. He made things right between you and this perfectly holy God. Sons, Jesus taught the twelve His disciples and they obeyed, and he teaches me by his word and through his spirit I must obey." He gives us his words.

By the way, that's not just the New Testament. Jesus is the Word, John chapter 1. Every word of the Bible can be a red word. They are all Jesus' words. But He hasn't just left us with His Word.

He sent the Spirit in some places in the New Testament. The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Christ to disciple us, to form us, shape us, make us. Sons, Love the Word of God. Devour the Word of God. Memorize the Word of God.

Trust the Word of God and beg for the influence of the Holy Spirit to make something of this so it's not a dead word to you, it's an alive Word that is forming you and shaping you, it is making a disciple of Jesus Christ, it is helping you follow Him. This is how we learn at the feet of Jesus. And it can be a reality to us like it was a reality to the twelve. So he's not there in person. His spirit, the spirit of Christ, makes His Word alive and we sit at His feet and learn from him.

Number four, the relationship of the father-son relationship, not Heavenly Father, Earthly Father, like what we're here this weekend about, this earthly father-son relationship to the Great Commission of Matthew 28. So that's our last stop is Matthew chapter 28. Turn there. Matthew Matthew 28 verses 16 through 20. Matthew 28 verses 16 through 20.

Then the 11 disciples, 11, 11 disciples, one, Jesus always knew he would be the traitor. He betrayed him, so now we're down to eleven because Judas has committed suicide because he betrayed Jesus. Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. When they saw him they worshiped him but some doubted. And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen. Did you get what's happening there? For the disciples to make disciples To The followers of Jesus to preach Jesus and to teach people to obey Jesus. For followers of Jesus to preach Jesus and help other people follow Jesus, be shaped by Jesus.

So as a disciple, as a follower of Jesus, I'm growing as a disciple and I have a place in making disciples. We all do. All Real live disciples of Jesus Christ have a place in making other followers of Jesus Here's a question Why aren't your mom's doing what all the other moms are doing? What are the other moms doing? They're doing what most of the other dads are doing.

They're out Making a career, investing their lives in forwarding certain other objectives. Your moms aren't doing that. Why? Why not? Do you think it's because we don't trust anyone else to teach math, science, history, English?

No one else in the world can teach Quinton math, science, English, and History. Only Laura Stearns. That isn't the reason. We can entrust that to someone else. But to point you to Jesus and to teach you to follow Jesus is another thing altogether.

That's why they're not doing what the other moms are doing. Because this is primary in the world. This is the most important thing in your life. So we've taken the most precious resource of the household and said do that that's why. May God give them an abundant harvest for the investment of their life.

Like sons, please understand what your mom is doing. She has one life to spend and she's spending it on that. She's making disciples. She's a disciple making disciples as God would give her grace to do it. And of course dads too.

We have a role to play in that and it is a leadership role. I don't want to diminish our role I'm just talking we're talking about the hours of the day now Talking about simple math and how many hours you have to spend and who's spending them where I I say that to say sons this is how important this is to us. We could We could all have a beach house if we sent your mom to work. That's true. Number five, an urgent appeal.

Sons, your lifelong obsession must be to follow Jesus. To whatever extent now Jesus has been your hobby, repent and believe the gospel. You are no disciple of Jesus Christ if Jesus has been your hobby to this date. I'm so ashamed how slow my progress and the Lord has been, but I know this. I am obsessed with the one who shed his blood for me.

I can't stop thinking about it. And it tells me, I am his disciple, that Sons, this can only begin at the cross and what Jesus does for sinners. You cannot skip the cross in the discipleship. There must be this moment where Jesus's work on the cross becomes yours by faith or you can never be a disciple. God has no use for you in your pre-crossed state.

You have nothing that He needs. You do Him no favors. You must be washed as white as snow and then he begins to shape you as a disciple. No the radical claims of Jesus are not just for the twelve, they're for the multitude. So that in comparison to your lifelong obsession with Jesus, you hate your mother and father.

You hate your wife. You hate your children. You hate your own life! So that if the day comes where Janet says, I won't follow Jesus, I'm doing something else, if all of my children say that, if all of my grandchildren say that, I will weep and I will plead with them, but I will say I cannot go with you. I cannot go with you.

Thank you. God, thank you for Jesus. To whatever extent that He has been our hobby, even for real disciples who have fallen into patterns that have changed the nature of how this looks to us and works itself out in our lives, please forgive us. Please sensitize us to the need for Jesus to be our lifelong obsession. Have everything subservient to it, under it.

However many ears are hearing this, as a person who has never gone past the cross having thrown themselves upon Jesus for his mercy and for life. God I pray that you would make that so clear to them in these moments exactly who they are what they are what their standing is with you and God for those of us who have come to the cross and know in our heart of hearts that there's no other hope in this world but that Jesus would die for sinners and pay the penalty for our sins. I pray that you would help us to commit ourselves in a fresh way to being formed and shaped into whatever it is that he wants out of this life that he's purchased with his own blood. I pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.