Disciple for Life

How many of you are familiar with YouTube? Have you heard of it? It’s okay. Good. I just want to make sure you knew what I was talking about. Thanks to YouTube, the Sheldon family—we are expert opal cutters. We know everything there is to know about cutting opal. Not really, but we do watch a YouTube channel called Black Opal Direct, and it’s all about cutting opals. It’s a father-son duo in Lightning Ridge, New South Wales, Australia, and it is fascinating. It is a multi-generational business. So, we’ve got a father and a son, but the father who is now teaching his son was taught by his father for multiple decades, all working in this same trade of cutting opal. That is very common throughout history: there would be these multi-generational trades that were passed down from one generation to the next, to the next, to the next. So much so that many people’s last names to this day are reflective of a trade that was a part of their family at some point in the past. You have Tanners and Coopers and Millers and Smiths—so many Smiths out there—and Weavers; that was their identity, what their family did. And so even to this day, for many of us—maybe even here—your last name is pointing back to some legacy, some trade that someone in your family, probably multiple generations of your family, participated in. It was a lifestyle that just got passed on from one generation to the next to the next. And it’s an amazing illustration of what the concept of Christian discipleship is supposed to be about: a passing on of knowledge and skills that are meant to grow the church, advance the cause of Christ, and glorify God. This is supposed to be a core tenet of the church: that we would be considered disciples of Jesus Christ, and as such we would want to pass all of that on to the next generation and so forth and so on. A disciple—the term, the idea—is that it’s someone who is a learner, which means that a disciple always had a teacher. If you were going to be a disciple, you had to have somebody who was teaching you. What’s interesting is that when we go to the New Testament, specifically when we look at the Gospels, we have this dynamic between Jesus and those who were called his disciples (and only disciples of Jesus are referred to as disciples in the Gospels, which I think is interesting). But it’s not just a purely academic setting. There’s a personal relationship that was involved between Jesus and his disciples. This is why Jesus’ dying was going to be so traumatic for them, because it would, in their minds, represent this severing of this relational bond that had been established between him and them. It’s also why Jesus had to reassure them that the giving of the Holy Spirit would be so essential to their continuing discipleship. To do what Jesus had been instructing them to do meant that they would continue to need God’s direct help, especially without Jesus literally walking before them and teaching them and praying with them and directing them. So in the Gospels we have Jesus and we have his disciples. And it’s always Jesus in the Gospels who determines who are his disciples. He’s the one who calls them. He’s the one who invites them to follow him. It’s also interesting that it is he who ultimately determines who were not his true disciples, as he makes statements like, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross.” In other words, Jesus is saying, “If you want to be my disciple, this is what is going to be expected of you. If you do not—if you’re not willing to count that cost, as we read in Luke chapter 14—if you’re not willing to consider that, then you do not need to even attempt it.” The Gospels were clear also that there were many who considered themselves Jesus’ disciples—they followed him—but in the end it was revealed that they were not truly his disciples. For example, we read in John chapter 6, verse 64 and following: “But there are some of you,” Jesus says, “who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe and who it was who would betray him. And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” After this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. Jesus knew who his disciples were. He called them. He’s the one who informed them on what it meant and what it would take to be a disciple of his. But what is so interesting—even though in the Gospels the concept of “disciple” is always tied directly to Jesus specifically—when we get past Jesus’ life in the New Testament, after he has died on the cross, risen from the grave, and then ascended into heaven, we still find Christians referred to as disciples. They weren’t able to literally follow in the footsteps of Jesus or literally be taught by him, but they are still regarded as his disciples. For example, in Acts chapter 6, verse 1, Luke says this: “Now in these days when the disciples were increasing…” They’re increasing in number even though Jesus isn’t there, and yet he’s not able to call them, and yet they’re multiplying. They’re growing. This makes it clear that what it means to be a disciple is to be a Christian. If you are a Christian, you are a disciple of Jesus Christ.

I want to look at Scripture this morning—obviously, that’s what we do—but I want to show you from the Bible that there are some exciting reasons why every Christian, every one of you, must take seriously the reality of being a disciple of Jesus. Your spiritual health depends on it. We’re going to see that the effectiveness of the church depends on it. And even our contribution to the reputation of Christ in the world depends on us being disciples of Jesus Christ. So turn with me to Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4. I want to look at the first sixteen verses of this chapter. Paul, I believe, lays out very plainly just the reality and even the joy of being a disciple of Jesus Christ. Ephesians chapter 4—let me read the first six verses. We’ll just kind of take it one chunk at a time. Paul says this: “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

Now, as we’re kind of dropping right into the middle of a letter that Paul wrote to the Ephesian church, you need to understand that the first three chapters of Ephesians are very gospel-centric. He is laying out, in a very compact but articulate way, the significance of the gospel and the fact that the gospel—the message of salvation—is not based on anything that we do. It is not on the basis of our works that we are saved, but it is only by the grace of God extended to us through the Savior, Jesus Christ, through his life, through his death, through his resurrection that we are saved. It’s an act of grace by which we are saved. And what Paul is making clear leading up into chapter 4 is that this gospel—it’s the same gospel for Jews as it is for Gentiles. And that’s why, at the beginning of this chapter, there is this emphasis on unity: this gospel is really a unifying factor in the church. And so what he’s laying out for these Ephesian Christians as one of the first exciting reasons why every Christian should be regarded as a disciple is that your life as a believer matters. It is a significant reality that when we think about the way the church functions, what Paul is saying for these people—these Ephesians—and it applies to you and me today, he’s saying how you live your life has a direct impact on the lives of other people in the church. The spiritual health of the church is directly impacted by how you and I live our lives. This is why at the very beginning he says, “I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.” That word “walk” is very appropriate because in the Gospels, when we talk about disciples, there was always the idea of following Jesus Christ. Your “walk” in the letters of Paul and Peter is referring to how you live your life. Paul is saying that the conduct of your life is significant. So I am urging you to conduct your life in a manner that is worthy of your calling. What is that calling? The calling on every believer’s life is to be holy—to live a holy life. That’s what we have been called to as a way to glorify God, as a way to demonstrate the reality of what God has done for us in Christ Jesus, as an expression of our transformed hearts and lives. We’re called to live holy lives. Peter says it this way in 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 14–16: “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’” We who have been saved and set apart by a holy God are supposed to live holy lives. There shouldn’t be any controversy about that. Holiness is referring to our moral purity. And what Paul is saying is your moral purity—or lack thereof—is never a private matter. You might attempt to hide the specific conduct of your life or even the thoughts and intentions of your mind, but what Paul is saying is it directly affects the people all around you. Paul says that we are supposed to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which we have been called. And he gives us sort of a list, some examples of the things that we are supposed to prioritize in our lives because it matters for all of us. He gives humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is only one church. There is only one Christianity. And Paul is saying that the unity of the church is directly impacted by the holiness—or lack thereof—of each one of us. We don’t live in these silos isolated from one another, but our lives are integrated with one another by design. And so Paul is addressing this potential cultural divide, this Jew-Gentile division that was reality in the world. But what he’s saying is that in the church that separation is healed. Those two divisions are brought together. Almost imagine you were injured in an accident—car accident, chainsaw accident, whatever—and you’re taken to the emergency room, and the emergency-room doctors are going to clean that wound out and then suture it together and bring those two sides of that wound together, hopefully with minimal scarring and minimal permanent damage. And this is the concept of what is supposed to happen in the church. People who, apart from the gospel—people who are outside of the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit in their lives—there are so many things that tear us apart, that separate us, that divide us. This should be no shock to you, right? We all live in this world. And what Paul is illustrating for them is one that was very front and center: Jew, Gentile—huge divide culturally, religiously, all sorts of things. But he’s saying that the gospel transforming our lives helps us to live morally upright, God-honoring lives, and in so doing is like a surgeon that sutures that division and brings it together, bringing unity within the church. This played out even in Jesus’ own twelve disciples, the ones that would be apostles. There were all sorts of cultural reasons why so many of them would be separate from each other. I mean, the classic example would be Simon the Zealot and Matthew the tax collector. One of them working to overthrow and subvert Roman rule, the other one working hand in glove with the Romans. Those two people would have absolutely hated each other outside of Jesus’ transforming work in their lives.

So what is Paul saying here? What is he challenging the Ephesians—and really us today? You may not be a pastor. You might not be a deacon. You might not be a Sunday school teacher. You might not even watch the babies in the nursery. Maybe you only come to church once or twice a month. Maybe you’re a new Christian who feels like you couldn’t possibly play a role in the unity and health of the church because you think, “Well, I could write everything I know about the Bible on a Post-it note with room to spare.” What could my life possibly contribute to the health of this church? What Paul is saying is that if you are a Christian, you have been called to holiness. And that holiness—or lack thereof—has a ripple effect throughout the church. So what that means is that every person here, wherever you are on the Christian maturity spectrum—whether that’s those of you who are very mature and you feel like maybe you’re tempted to feel like “I’ve kind of figured it all out,” or you are very immature and you feel like “I don’t know anything”—you need to take seriously the importance of being a disciple of Jesus Christ. What that means is you need to take seriously—remember, if a disciple is a learner and Jesus was the teacher—you need to take seriously the absorbing and learning of the truth of the gospel so that it can have that transforming effect on your life, so that you can live with humility and gentleness and patience and bear with one another in love, and you can work to advance the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Your life matters. It matters to each one of us here.

Let’s keep reading verses 7–12: “But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, ‘When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.’ (In saying, ‘He ascended,’ what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ…”

What Paul is talking about here are what we often refer to as spiritual gifts. And the point being—as another reason to be encouraged about you being a disciple of Jesus Christ—not only does your life matter, but what Paul is saying here is that your contributions to the church are essential. There is a unity that exists in the church. That unity is maintained in part by our holy lives. But that unity is not uniformity. We’re not all identical. You know, when you play chess, you’ve got the pawns on the front row and they all look exactly the same, right? It’s kind of boring. That’s not it. What Paul is saying is that we all have these unique gifts, abilities from the Holy Spirit. They’re not the same. They’re part of God’s intentional design for the health and stability of the church. Each, Paul says, is given a different measure of God’s grace as a gift. These spiritual gifts—you might describe them as abilities, maybe even connected to that are holy desires that each is given and an enabling that is spiritual in nature. And they are intended by God to equip the church, to mature the church, to strengthen the church, to accomplish collectively what each individual component could not accomplish on its own. These component aspects combine together to fill out the outworking of the church’s mission and purpose. Paul gives us a list. This is not in any way an exhaustive list. In fact, this is a fairly brief list that he gives us of some of the gifts that God gave to the church: apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds (or pastors), and teachers. Some of those gifts came to an end when the written revelation of God was completed. We still benefit from them because we have the Word of God here. Others of them are ongoing. We’ve got in the New Testament several different lists—potentially as many as five, depending on what list you regard as spiritual gifts or not. But either way, there are multiple lists, and no two lists are the same. There’s a variety of examples of spiritual gifts given. And I like how John Stott, in his commentary on Ephesians, sort of concludes about that fact. He suggests that since these lists all differ considerably from each other, even when you combine them all they don’t represent an exhaustive catalog of all the spiritual gifts. He concludes—and I would agree—that there are no doubt many other spiritual gifts that aren’t even mentioned in the New Testament. And all of them are given not for the benefit or the singular benefit of the person to whom they’re given, but they’re given for the benefit of everyone in the church. This is what Paul is getting at: that contribution to the life of the church is essential because God has uniquely gifted each one of you if you are a believer.

I had, when I was in school, one of our athletic directors who used to always say that he thought God gave him the spiritual gift of moving pianos, and he loved to help old ladies move pianos out of their basement or out of their house when they needed to downsize. Is there a spiritual gift of piano moving? I don’t know. But I like the idea that there are other spiritual gifts beyond just what is given as examples in the New Testament. What’s special about the list that Paul has here in Ephesians 4:11 is these are specific gifts for a specific purpose. These are all directed almost at teaching and exhortation. But what is so significant about spiritual gifts is what is said in verse 12. If you’ve got your Bibles open to Ephesians chapter 4, look at verse 12: “…to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” I like how the NIV puts it because I think it makes it really clear. The NIV says, “…to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.” This is all about discipleship. God has given the church individuals within the church gifts—the examples Paul gives here: gifts like apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher—so that the saints (that’s you people, Christians in the church) are prepared and equipped to participate in the ministry of the church. And in doing that, we will be used by God to build up the church. That’s almost like perpetual motion. The gifts are given to equip the church to do the ministry. The ministry of the church helps build up, strengthen, reinforce the church so that it can continue to do the work and build it up and do the work and build it up. It’s supposed to be ongoing. He’s given the church very important resources for discipleship. Obviously, God’s Word is vital. This is where we go to learn and to hear from God. God’s given us his Spirit. Paul is making it clear at the beginning that the Spirit of God is essential for the health and strength of the church. It’s a vital component of discipleship. We need the Spirit of God working in us. He’s given us prayer, right?—that we go to him in dependence and we make requests of him and we praise him and thank him and confess to him. And he has given us the church. He’s given us one another and these spiritual gifts that each one of us has to strengthen, to accomplish the ministry of the church and to build up the church.

What is the point? The point is that discipleship is essential for every Christian—young or old, immature or mature—because you are all necessary for the growth and strength of the church. That doesn’t mean that God isn’t the one growing and strengthening the church. But what’s clear in the New Testament is that God, as part of his design, has chosen Christians to be instruments that he uses to grow and strengthen the church. And so where that comes back to us is that we all need to be very intentional and serious about maturing in our faith so that we can better glorify God by doing the work of the ministry that he has equipped us to do in order to build up the church. Do you see how this is all intended to work? You as a Christian are integral to that whole process. Your life matters, and your contributions to the church are essential.

Look at verses 13–16: “…until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”

Where Paul ends this section—or where I’m at least ending it because I think it ties it all together very well here—is that you are always going to need to take discipleship seriously because you aren’t perfect yet. Until you’re perfect, you need to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. We can stop being disciples, Paul says, when the church is perfectly united. Has that happened yet? Is the church perfectly united—a unity worthy of our Savior? I don’t think so. You can stop being a disciple when you are mature to the point of perfectly modeling Christlikeness. Anybody gotten there yet? Are you a perfect model of Christlikeness, perfectly reflecting the glory of God to the world? No. So we need to keep on. We can stop being disciples when Christians are no longer led away by deception. Have we arrived there yet, where immature believers aren’t being led astray by deceitful teachings? No—in fact, we’ve got a long way to go in every one of those categories. He lays them all right here in terms of why we need to be disciples of Christ: until we attain unity of the faith and knowledge of the Son of God, until we are mature in our manhood or womanhood—this is spiritually speaking—to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, and so that we are no longer tossed like children to and fro on the waves, carried about by every wind of doctrine, human cunning, and craftiness in deceitful schemes.

In 1985—many years ago for some of us, seems like ancient history—imagine 1985: Toyota began the process of launching an entirely new brand that they were going to build from scratch, from the ground up. And the goal of the brand was quite simple. They wanted to produce, in their own words, the perfect car. They spent almost four years and over a billion dollars designing and perfecting what would be the flagship of their new brand, Lexus—the LS400. You remember in the early days of Lexus their slogan was “the relentless pursuit of perfection.” That’s what they wanted: the perfect car. Did they make the perfect car? They made a really good car. The car was revolutionary. So many things that debuted in that first LS400 many of us take for granted in our cars today. If it was so important for a car company to invest so much time, so much research, so much money into making a perfect car—as helpful as that is for society—how much more important is it for us to be devoted to living out the Christian life as God desires for us: to pursuing that perfect unity within the church, to pursuing Christlike maturity in our faith, to pursuing the elimination of believers being led astray by spiritual deception? So much more important. The best car in the world only lasts for what—twenty, thirty years if you really baby it—and then you get another one. It’s a tool. It’s a conveyance. But we’re talking about an eternal reality. You and I are spiritual beings. Human beings, the Bible is clear, are eternal beings. Our life here on earth is very short, but there is an eternity that awaits us. We need to be very serious about that. We cannot afford to be complacent Christians. We need men and women who are serious about following Christ, serious about learning from him. We need Christians who want to grow in their knowledge of God’s Word, who want their relationship with their Savior to be strengthened, who want to use what God has given them to help their brothers and sisters in Christ. This is what Paul is calling the Ephesians to. He’s calling them to be serious about being followers of Jesus Christ, that they are to be devoted to it collectively as a church but also individually as Christians within that church. Both sides of that equation are essential, and we have to be serious about both of those. We have to be serious about the health of our local congregation. We have to be serious about the health of the church all around the world. But we also have to be serious about the spiritual health of individual men and women within the church as well. The work will go on until we reach perfection. Which, if you’re a mature believer, is to, I guess, wake you up a little bit and let you know—praise the Lord that you can look back on your life and see all the progress that God has worked in your life—but to realize that the truth of where you’re at is still a long way from where God would have you to be. And as maybe a new believer or an immature believer, there is this assurance that even you can mature, can grow, can be built up in your faith. Even you can be used as an instrument of God to strengthen and bring harmony and reinforce the health of the church and the health of your fellow believers in Christ. Your life is not to be trivialized or diminished, but you too play a role in God’s work within the world and within his church.

Basically, what Paul is saying is that until Christ returns and we are glorified, we need to be disciples of Jesus Christ. We need to be learners who live out what we learn. We need to learn more. We need to be refined. We need to continue to grow in our faith. But all of that needs to be displayed.

So who are disciples? Christians. Plain and simple. “Disciple” is not sort of like an elite Christian. A disciple is a Christian. A Christian is a disciple. Who does the discipling? Christ does the discipling. And now that he has ascended to heaven, he disciples through his Word. He disciples through his Spirit. He disciples through his church. What are the goals of discipleship? To grow the church both numerically and spiritually, to strengthen the church and to unify the church—all to the glory of God the Father.

So if you want unity in the church—and I hear so many people complain, “Oh, there’s no unity in the church, blah blah blah blah blah”—unity in the church happens when we take seriously being disciples of Jesus Christ, because unity is only going to take place around the truth. If we try to just sort of “kumbaya, let’s get along with one another,” that’s not true unity. That’s not what we’re supposed to be striving toward. We’re supposed to be united around the truth.

Do you want to mature in your faith? You don’t want to be stagnant. Well, you need to be serious about being a disciple of Jesus Christ, learning from him, taking strides to grow.

Do you want to be equipped to do what Christ calls you to do using your spiritual gifts? Well, then you need to take seriously being a disciple of Jesus Christ.

It’s for every one of us. Until we’re perfect, we need to keep doing it. Your contributions are essential to the life of the church, and your life matters to the lives of all of us here. It’s all part of God’s beautiful design for his church.

Let’s pray. Dear Lord, I thank you for the way that you used the Apostle Paul to so clearly communicate to these Ephesian Christians the importance and urgency of the way they walked and to continue to grow and be strengthened in that through their pursuit of Christ. And thank you that what was written for them is also so appropriate and helpful for us here today in Dixon, two thousand years later—that it is a universal truth. Thank you for the way that you have designed each one of us, each one of our lives to be interlinked with one another in a support network that is stronger and stronger the more we devote ourselves to being followers of Jesus Christ and living in obedience to his commands. We know that our salvation is not dependent on our works. And yet your Word is very clear that those who have been saved, their lives are transformed. We are new creations in Christ. And we have been new creations in Christ Jesus, created for good works that you have ordained that we would walk in them. We ask that you would help us to do that. Help us to be committed each day to be learning more and more about you, be learning more and more from you, be learning more and more for the sake of being obedient to you. May this be something that isn’t just something we do for a week or a month or a year, but that carries on throughout our lives. We ask all this in your name. Amen.