WBS.208
FUNDAMENTALS OF DISCIPLESHIP
DISCIPLESHIP 101
Part 5 – Come and Follow
Matthew 16:24 Then
said Yahushua unto his disciples, If any man will come after
me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Mark 8:34 And
when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto
them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Luke 9:23 And he
said to them all, If any man will come after me, let
him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
Would we withstand the requirements of Yahushua to be his
disciple; or would we be such as cannot be his disciple because we have not
forsaken all to follow him? If we believe that simply praying a prayer secures
our eternity; then why would any of us ever suffer loss to our own pleasures
and desires to follow him; and yet, the Master says to us: “Come and follow me.”
Over the past few weeks, I have been showing
through the Scriptural record that the Master Yahushua was not going throughout
the region preaching to enlist as many people to be his disciples as he
possibly could. He was not about securing
the entire population to believe in him.
He canvassed the land to find those whose hearts were prepared for the rigors
of kingdom living. He explained to the masses that one must count the cost to
be his disciple. He gave them to
consider one who would put his hand to the plow, but not have the stamina or
tenacity to finish plowing the field; or one who would begin to build a house;
but not have the wherewithal to finish it; or one who saw an advancing army of
superior numbers and not calculate wisely how best to confront it.
Throughout his ministry, the Master persisted
in qualifying his disciples. He was lenient on no one. To the one who wanted to wait to take care of
the needs of his family; he said, “Let the dead
bury the dead.” To the rich he
said, “Sell what you have, give it to the poor,
then come and follow me.” To
others who expressed a willingness to follow him, he said he didn’t even have a
place to sleep at night.
Messiah’s technique in determining his
disciples reminds me of the story of Gideon (Judges 6-7). They had a war to fight, an enemy virtually
without number to defeat. Gideon was
able to raise an army of 32,000 men. To
them, he said, “Whoever is fearful, go home;” and 22,000 men went home. Another
test eliminated all but 300 men; and with 300 men, they defeated the Midianites
and Amalekites. Messiah knows it is not
numbers that win the battle; but the Spirit of IAUE. He just needs those in whom the Spirit of
IAUE will be allowed to work.
James 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses,
know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with IAUE? whosoever
therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of IAUE.
5 Do ye think
that the scripture saith in vain, The
spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
The Spirit of IAUE desires full reign over the
heart and mind of the follower of Yahushua Messiah. How can one call him “Master” only to retain the
right to pursue his/her own interests? A disciple is not one with a divided
purpose, or one having multiple interests.
Such persons are called adulterers and adulteresses. They are unfaithful
to their wedding vows. Messiah was not looking for those who would follow him
for the moment; but who, later, would run after other lovers.
Let’s take a look at how his circle of twelve
began to be formed.
We know from the account in John 12:37-42,
that Yahushua had just met Andrew and Simon (Peter). Andrew had witnessed Yahushua being baptized of
John, and heard John declare that he was the Son of Elohim and the Lamb of
Elohim. This account that follows may very well have occurred within the next couple
of days.
Mark 1:16 Now as
he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a
net into the sea: for they were fishers.
17 And Yahushua said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to
become fishers of men.
18 And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him.
19 And when he had gone a little farther
thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in
the ship mending their nets.
20 And straightway he called them: and they left their father
Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went after him.
Luke
provides us more detail on this event.
Luke 5:1 And it
came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of IAUE, he
stood by the lake of Gennesaret,
2 And saw
two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and
were washing their nets.
3 And he
entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would
thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out
of the ship.
4 Now
when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and
let down your nets for a draught.
5 And
Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have
taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.
6 And
when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their
net brake.
7 And
they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they
should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that
they began to sink.
8 When
Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Yahushua’s knees, saying, Depart from me;
for I am a sinful man, O Master.
9 For he
was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which
they had taken:
10 And so
was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon.
And Yahushua said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men.
11 And
when they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed
him.
Peter
and Andrew, James and John, with their families and employees had fished all
night without success. Fishing was their livelihood. They were good at it. This particular
morning, they had nothing to take to the market place; so while they were
washing their nets, Simon allowed Yahushua to use his boat to distance himself off
shore from the press of the emerging crowd who had come to hear him speak. After preaching to the crowd, he told Peter
and Andrew to go back out into the deep water and cast their nets again. Though it seemed illogical (You know, the
fish weren’t biting.), they obeyed his word.
The catch was so great they had to call their partners, James and John,
to come help them with the catch. Even
with two boats, the catch was so great it nearly sank both boats.
Before
they even reached the shore, they immediately began mending their nets that had
been torn by the great number of fish they had just caught. A fishing company is only as healthy as its
nets. They were tending to the immediate
needs of their business; when Yahushua said, “Come
and follow me.” When they reached
the shore, Peter and Andrew left their nets, and their boat. Moving down the shore to the next boat,
Messiah commanded James and John to “come and
follow.” They immediately left
their nets, their father, and their workers.
They “forsook all and followed him.”
Not
long after this event, we see another one of the twelve added to his circle.
Matthew
9:9 And as Yahushua passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named
Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me.
And he arose, and followed him.
Matthew
(also called “Levi”) was a publican, a tax collector. Just like the IRS, today, he was despised. He made his fortune collecting taxes for the
Romans; and like all publicans, he no doubt collected more than was required,
thus enriching himself at the expense of his fellow Jews. If one could disregard the contempt of his own
people, it was a dream job by which one could become wealthy. Matthew had it good (so to speak); and yet,
one command from the Master, “Follow me,”
and Matthew walked away from his cushy well-paying job, forsook all and
followed Yahushua.
We
all are familiar with the story of how Peter denied knowing the Master three
times, the night Yahushua was betrayed, tried and beaten. After Yahushua rose
from the dead, he appeared to the eleven who had gone fishing all night and
who, rather familiarly, had caught nothing all night long. As the ship was about 300 feet from the
shore, Yahushua, standing on the shore, yelled out to them if they had been
successful; and they replied that they had caught nothing all night. The Master told them to cast their nets on
the right side of the boat. When they
did, they caught a great number of fish.
Peter knew instantly that the man on the shore was Yahushua (at 300 feet
in the early morning light, it was not possible to make a visual
identification).This was not the first time he had experienced this.
The
Master was already on the shore cooking some fish and invited them to join him
for the meal. Thrice, Yahushua secured Peter’s loyalty (one for each act of
betrayal); then described what his discipleship would cost him.
John
21:18 Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and
walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch
forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou
wouldest not.
19 This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify Elohim.
And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.
20 Then Peter, turning about, seeth the
disciple whom Yahushua loved following; which also leaned on his breast at
supper, and said, Master, which is he that betrayeth thee?
21 Peter seeing him saith to Yahushua, Master, and what shall this
man do?
22 Yahusha saith unto him, If I will that he
tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow
thou me.
Peter thought, if he was going to be killed as
a consequence of his obedience to the Master; what was John’s fate going to be? Yahushua’s reply was “What difference does it
make, Peter? Are you going to follow me
or not?” Even after the resurrection,
Yahushua did not coddle his disciples.
Discipleship was not going to be easy.
It was going to cost everything.
It still does.
Kingdom
heart: a heart that offers no resistance to the
performance of the will of IAUE.
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