REAL DISCIPLES

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

To the Jews who had believed Him, Jesus said, “If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

John 8:31-32

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Jesus had just exchanged dialogue with a group of people gathered to listen to Him. Counted in that number were some Pharisees, the Jewish religious authorities of the day.

As we have seen already over the past few devotions, the Pharisees were mostly interested in feuding with Jesus, questioning Him at every opportunity and unwilling to listen to His answers. Other Jews who were in company with the Pharisees did not follow suit. In fact at the end of yesterday’s scripture passage from John, Chapter 8, we learned this:

Even as He spoke, many believed in Him. John 8:30

No matter how hard the Pharisees were working to try and discredit Jesus and His ministry, people still listened to Jesus on an individual level and chose to place their belief and trust in Him. Perhaps they were aware of these earlier words from Jesus found in Chapter 3 of this gospel:

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” John 3:16-18

Deciding to believe and trust Jesus, leaving the ways of the world behind for His ways, brought the promise of salvation to His followers. They were the real disciples and, as mentioned, that number was growing as Jesus was engaged in discussion with the Pharisees. This led Him to say these words found in our passage for today, drawn from the 31st and 32nd verses of John 8:

To the Jews who had believed Him, Jesus said, “If you hold to My teaching, you are really My disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  John 8:31-32

Choosing to believe in Jesus was one thing. Living as He did and embracing His teaching was another.

You see, real disciples aren’t passive. They don’t just believe in Jesus, receive salvation, and then sit around. That wasn’t what Jesus did in ministry and it’s not what He expects His followers to do either. In fact, part of the teaching His left behind before He ascended into glory with God the Father was in the form of some commands, let’s call it a “to-do” list for all Christian disciples. He said this:

“…go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” Matthew 28:19-20

After Jesus left, His disciples were expected to carry on His work, something that would happen if they were obedient to His teaching which would reveal to them truth and then that truth would set them free. Free to live and love and learn and serve, living boldly and confidently in the salvation hope found in the one and only Savior…Jesus, the way and the truth and the life…Jesus, the only One who can bring someone to God the Father (John 14:6).

Real disciples did this but there was also one other important reason for a Christ believer to immerse themselves in Jesus’ teaching. It equipped them to share that teaching with others. Jesus knew He would ask His followers to teach others to obey what He commanded and so it was paramount that His disciples knew His teachings which included His commands. Equipped with this knowledge, Jesus’ followers could not only then comply with the will and guidance of their Savior but also help others to believe in Christ themselves, thus receiving their own salvation and learning the teaching that was truth, a truth that would set them free.

Given all this, the word of the Lord is calling us today to self evaluate as to how well we’re doing as Christ believers. We should be asking ourselves:

How well am I doing in learning and knowing Jesus’ teachings?

How much time do I invest in making sure others know that teaching and the commands Jesus gave?

How well am I doing when it comes to producing real disciples for my Lord?

Only you can answer these questions for where you are but if you’re lagging behind, why not commit yourself to do better in the year ahead, to show others that you are a real disciple, entrusted with truth through your Savior’s teaching and set free to serve others through Him?

2020 is a year chock full of opportunities and my prayer is that every Christian will take advantage of every one of them to do the kingdom work of Jesus Christ in obedience to the Great Commission He gave all His followers. It’s time to get to work and frankly we should do so with a sense of urgency, faced with a world where so many people aren’t saved.

Jesus worked to change that and we will too if we follow His lead.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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