What God Expects From Every Follower of Jesus
Matthew 4:19 says, "And he said to them, 'Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.'"
Discipleship at its core is an invitation to follow, and we follow to the end that we become more like the one we are following. In our case, specifically Jesus. The first disciples literally followed Jesus around everywhere. They watched what he did, they learned from him directly, and then they went out and did the things they were taught. Then they taught those things to other people, and the cycle repeated.
Today, what it looks like is we first make the choice to follow Jesus. We accept him as our Savior for the forgiveness of our sins. We make the choice that we want to be more and more like him. But then we continue to make those choices every single day. It's like in a marriage when you say "I do." That's not the end goal, that's the starting point. You enter into that covenant and then you grow that relationship for the rest of your life. That's what it's like with Jesus. We enter into this covenant with him and then we want to grow that forever.
God has expectations for his followers, for people who say, "I belong to Jesus, I want to model my life after him." Those expectations are not set in place by any of us, but by God. And the short version is you become more like Christ. There are three elements to that: pursuing holiness, spending time with him through scripture and prayer, and sharing the gospel.
Expectation One: Pursuing Holiness
Leviticus 19:2 says, "Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy."
God sets the standard right here. The standard is not, "You should be pretty good because I'm holy," or "Be better than somebody else." He says, be holy because I am holy. That is an incredibly high standard, one we're not going to reach this side of eternity. But that does not mean we shouldn't try, because that's the standard that's been set for us. Our best, aside from him, is not good enough. We have to have something to reach for, and he tells us clearly what that is. It's holiness.
Romans 6:1-2 says, "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?"
So are we submitting to our sin, or are we trying to overcome it? A lot of the time we get comfortable with our sin. We get desensitized to it. We justify it because we break sin down into levels: there's the really bad sin we don't talk about, the pretty bad sin some of us are open enough to share, and then the everyday sins we've just decided are okay, things like gossip and outbursts of anger. We forget that while we may not be a murderer, that gossip we did yesterday still signed Jesus's death warrant and still put him on the cross. We need to understand just how seriously God takes our sin, and we should look different than other people. Someone who says, "I belong to God," you should be able to look at their life and see that they're different, that while they may live in the world, they're at least trying not to be of the world.
Paul tells us in Romans 12, "Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."
Part of this transformation involves purging that sin. It means getting all of the sin out. It means we're not making small compromises: "I'm not doing those sins, I'm good at not doing that sin, these sins are okay." We need to not make compromises with our sin.
Expectation Two: Spending Time With Jesus
Joshua 1:8 says, "This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it."
God has expectations that we're spending time with him daily in prayer and personal study to grow that relationship, and that our relationship with him exists outside of these walls, outside of our small group, one-on-one with him. We hear from him through scripture, we talk to him through prayer. That doesn't mean we don't also need collective study with other people. Every one of these is important. It's like which eye is more important, the right or the left. If I see out of just one eye, I'm only seeing half the picture. But when I'm looking out of both, it's not even just the sum of its parts, you've added in depth perception. When you have your personal time with God, your time with a few other people, and your time with a lot of people, you're experiencing him in a lot of different ways, and he expects us to experience him in all of these different ways. We need time just with God through prayer and scripture, and we need time with other believers.
Expectation Three: Sharing the Gospel
Matthew 28:19-20 says, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
This is one of the specifically expressed missions of the church, of people who claim to be Jesus followers: that we're sharing it with other people, leveraging the relationships we have to bring God's kingdom here, to help other people learn about Jesus and be able to accept him too. Sharing the gospel does not just fall on the shoulders of church staff or small group leaders or deacons. It falls on the shoulders of every single person who has placed their trust in Jesus. If you come to know Jesus, you may not feel equipped to share him yet, and while that may be true, you will get better at it as you go. But if you claim Jesus as your Savior, it is your responsibility to share him with the world.
Romans 10:13-15 says, "For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!'"
People will not place their trust in Jesus if they do not know who he is. Jesus tells us the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. There's a lot of work to be done, and we need somebody to do it. God asks in Isaiah 6, "Who's going to go for me? Who are we going to send?" And Isaiah jumps up and down, raising his hand, "Pick me, pick me, I'll go." That's what God is asking. Who's going to step up for him, or are we going to be like people just kicking the rocks, not making eye contact?
Living This Out
Our growth as Jesus followers is ultimately up to each one of us as an individual. We can be equipped, but we still have to make the decisions to do the things we need to do to grow in Christ. Here at Solid Rock, we've got a few things available that are meant to help us live out these expectations.
Men's and Women's Ministry. These ministries are largely meant to build relationships, and that's not a tool to underestimate in ministry. We were not meant to live our lives in isolation, and connecting with others helps us live out the things we need to do. Growing relationships is such an important part of what we're trying to do as a church, and your small group will be better if you feel connected to the people in it.
Small Groups. These are kicking back off this week. A group of people meets throughout the week, studies the Bible, eats some food, fellowships, and holds each other accountable, specifically to sharing the gospel and to time spent with God in scripture and prayer. Leaders will ask how your reading has been and who you're sharing the gospel with. That's what biblical community is for, to talk through not just our struggles but also what God is teaching us, so we can share that with somebody else.
Discipleship Groups. Generally two to four people, same gender, meeting or in contact once a week, talking about three things: who we're sharing the gospel with, what our reading has been like, and what sin struggles we're dealing with. The difference between this and small group is that with fewer people, you're a lot more open with people you can trust, in a safe place where you can be known and encouraged without fear of judgment.
None of these expectations should come as a shock. What these ministries exist for is to help each other live out the things God has already called us to. So get involved this week. And if what you've experienced today is, "I want to get closer to Jesus, but I don't know Jesus in the first place," he's the reason we do everything. He loved us enough to die for us so that we don't have to live in our sins or pay the consequences of them. If that's you, we'd love to talk with you about that.
