Fruitful friends of the conquering King

John 15:1-17 ESV

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.  Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.  Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.  Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.  I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.  If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.  If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.  By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.  As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.  If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.  These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.  "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.  You are my friends if you do what I command you.  No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.  You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.  These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

Rev. Dr. Ed Gross

We are not called to plant churches. We are called to make disciples. Churches, we have. Disciplers, we have few. To be a disciple in the first century, there is a set of requirements. We are called to the same things as modern-day christians. We are called to teach people to obey christ.

It is not enough to hear and understand the words of Christ. We are to make it true in our lives. That is what we are to do.

True obedience comes from a heart of love. Obedience is not love. It comes from love. If we love God, then we will obey.

After obedience to God, Christ brings us into intimate friendship with Christ. The order matters. We are friends by our obedience in christ.

Do all this and we will have fruit. Rabbis would teach and then release disciples to become rabbis themselves. Rabbis then make more disciples. This is fruit. Fruit that remains attached to the vine.

Building a Discipleship Community

[Mark 3:13-14]

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 he might send them out to preach

{Rev. David Skinner}

If you are interested in the Men's trip to Haiti, please send me an email.

My dad had pastored alot of churches. And he said his most successful church was the last one. He told me he didn't do much different, but he made a commitment to invest in eight men. He invested his life into these men.

Jesus invested in 12 men. That was how he started a world-changing movement. Jesus, God incarnate, Emannuel, lived with these 12 men. God could have changed the world any way he wanted, but the way He chose was incarnational discipleship. They followed Him and watched Him and became like Him. The end goal of discipleship is trying to change the world. But it is not the flood-the-market, event-driven, attempt to change the world. It is the slow, steady, & regular investment of people into other lives.

1) Building a discipleship community begins with a calling.

Jesus comes to Levi and he says, "Follow me." After Jesus dies and comes back, He comes to Peter and restores him with these words, "Follow me." Jesus is saying follow me and I will show you how to live in my Father's kingdom. Jesus comes to save and show His disciples how to live.

If you call yourself a Christian, then you have accepted this call. Being a Christian doesn't mean just a relationship with Jesus, but also a relationship with the church. We aren't supposed to imitate everything of our fellow christian, but when we see Christ, we should imitate those things. Not everything, but the Christ-likeness we see in others.

Discipleship is like interference. It means letting people nose around in our lives. To speak into our lives.

2) Building a discipleship is a journey.

Verse 14 says, "so that they might be with him." What does this mean? It means Jesus was going to teach them. He was going to invite them to live with Him. They would see how He ministers, see how He lives, see His life. Jesus would also ask them to do things. To get a donkey, to get a room for Passover, to make disciples, to cast our demons...

you know, that trip to Haiti... I don't know any Haitians. I want to reach out to them and minister to them. But one of the reasons I want to go on this trip with men, is that 12 men from Devon campus have signed up to go. I get several days to spend time with these guys. We need discipleship. When you come to church on Sunday, we are getting re-calibrated. It's a great thing. But there is no back and forth, no interaction.

a) Word-centered

But where are we supposed to find Jesus' commands? It is in the bible. The bible records all the things Jesus has done and commanded. The Word is powerful. We need to pray the Spirit will reveal the meaning of the Word. We need to pray for God to change our lives to be more like Christ. All discipleship needs to be word-centered.

a) Gospel-centered

Discipleship shows us how to apply the gospel to our lives. It shows us places where we are not applying or are misapplying the gospel in our lives. How we are not living out the gospel in our lives.

c) Mission-centered

"I will make you fishers of men." The catalyst is not that Jesus would do this. But that God has come incarnate and walked with them. He fished for their heart. By doing this, He was showing them how to fish. He showed them how He cared for them. After He had done this, He told them, ok... you go do some fishing yourself. So this fishing for souls can manifest itself in many ways. But this fishing is one of the goals of discipling. He taught people to fish; to prepare them to fish. We are to do this until there is fullness...

Summary

To those who are called to discipleship, they are called to die. It is not self-centered. We are not saved just for ourselves. We are called to die. We are not called to suffer without purpose. We are to deny ourselves and follow Christ. This self-denial kills our plans, drives a stake through our ego, our desires to control everything & everybody. But isn't it our plans, our goals, our desires that drive us crazy? Jesus tells us to hand all these over to Him... Die, and He will give us life.

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." - Matthew 11:28-30