Requirements for Discipleship
Speaker: Pastor Philip Pace
Additional Resources: Extra resources and readings can be found on this page and appear indented like this.
Links:
“According to Grok on X “What is required to be a follower of Christ”:
Faith in Jesus Christ
Repentance:
Confession of Faith:
Baptism:
Following Jesus:
ESV Mark 8:27 And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” 28 And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” 29 And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” 30 And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.
29A - "What about you? - Who do YOU say that I am?"
Possibly awkward silence……
29B Peter speaks up- "You are the Christ."
Matthew: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Matt. 16:16
Mark briefest - "You are the Christ." Mark 8:29b
Luke is the clearest, "You are the Christ of God." Luke 9:20
#1 Requirement for Disciples - Accurately Know and Declare who Jesus is
1. Your Answer Matters!
2. If you have accurate Knowledge it is given only by the Lord.
Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17 And Jesus said to him," Blessed are you, Simon Bar-jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
Matt. 16:17
But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.
1 John 2:20
3. Personal Proclamation
ESV John 18:33-34 So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?”
NEVER second-hand knowledge
ESV John 1:12-13 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
QUOTE - Barclay
"Christianity never consists in knowing about Jesus; it always consisted in knowing Jesus” Barclay
Mark 8:30 And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.
V.31-33
And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. 33 But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God 's interests, but man’s."
ESV Isaiah 53:5-6 But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
31. And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 And He was stating the matter plainly.
Stating Plainly:
Jesus is not hiding anything here. Versions say: openly, frankly,
3954 parrhÄ“sĂa (from 3956/pás, "all" and rhÄ“sis, "a proverb or statement quoted with resolve," L-S) – properly, confidence (bold resolve), leaving witness of what deserves to be remembered (taken seriously).
With believers, 3954/parrhÄ“sĂa ("confidence that speaks up") results from God inbirthing faith (4102/pĂstis, His "inworked persuasion"). Accordingly, 3954 (parrhÄ“sĂa) and faith (4102/pĂstis) are directly connected.
32b - And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.
"Common expectation is that Messiah was to provide enormous political, economic and spiritual relief for the Jewish people - a dead one couldn’t do any of that!" ~~Moody
32b - And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.
Matthew 16:22
"This must not and cannot happen to you!"
33 But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
Requirement #2: Believe and Obey what Jesus Says (Mark 8:31–33)
Apply 2 things from Peter’s Mistake
1. Always Line yourself up with Scripture
Our mandate:
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. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Joshua 1:8
2. Always Obey spiritual authority.
"Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you."
Heb. 13:17
ESV Mark 8:34 And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
"There is a price to pay for true discipleship." – Warren Wiersbe
Discipleship Requirement #3 = Surrender, Suffer, and Follow!
1. Deny Himself - Surrender
533 aparnéomai (from 575/apó, "from" which intensifies 720/arnéomai, "deny") – properly, deny, focusing back on what was originally refused (rejected, forsaken). Note the force of the prefix, 575/apó ("away from").
Since 720 (arnéomai) already means "deny," 533 (aparnéomai) suggests "strongly reject" (especially the source) – utterly refusing to recognize the original source involved. Hence 533 (aparnéomai) can imply "ignore, disown, or repudiate"
"You are obliterating yourself as the dominant principle of life, and making God the ruling principle, more, the ruling passion of life. — The life of constant self-denial is the life of constant assent to God." Barclay
Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." ESV
2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” ESV
1 Corinthians 16:19-20 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. ESV
2 Take up His Cross - (Luke adds: "Daily")
What did the cross bring to Jesus?
Opposition
Shame
Suffering
Death
Fleshly - OLD Self is Craving
Acceptance instead of Opposition
Glory instead of Shame
Comfort instead of Suffering
3. Follow Me
First - Lose your self/life for Jesus’ sake and for the gospel’s
35 - FOR Whoever want to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.
Second
V.36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?
Third “FOR”
37 For what can a man give in return for his soul?
Fourth “FOR”
38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
When you are preferring to look cool to the world you are choosing:
Acceptance instead of Opposition
Glory instead of Shame
Comfort instead of Suffering
Safety instead of Death
Psalm 1:1-2 ESV Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
2 but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.
Let your new self prefer Jesus, His Words, His Sake - His gospel!
38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
