DIY

Do it Yourself Discipleship

Dr. Marty Baker / July 22, 2007 / Matthew 16:24-25

Have you ever felt like you could do anything? I have. My Dad taught me: “Son, you can do anything if you put your mind to it.”

The problem with that is that I believe him. As a result, I am a recovering Do-It-Yourselfer – and a full-fledged member of “Do It Yourself Anonymous”.

For example a few weeks ago, my oldest son called me from Columbia. He said, “Dad, my car is messing up.” He told me the symptoms and I told him where the dealership was located and that there would probably be an after hours drop box. He did everything that he was supposed to do. After that he called me to come pick him up.

It was Sunday afternoon. I had just preached to over 1,000 people - I felt like I could do anything. On the way over there, I had this thought, “I wonder if I could fix his car.” I am not a car repairman, but I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express one time. This thought stayed with me.

When I arrived in Columbia, instead of going to his apartment I went to the dealership. I found his car and took it for a drive. It would hardly go.

As I was sputtering down the road, I looked up and there was an Auto Parts store opened on a Sunday evening. I pulled into the parking lot and went into the store. I explained the problem to the guy at the counter and asked him for his opinion. He said, “It could be a clogged fuel filter.” He said, “Have you ever the changed the fuel filter?”

I am sure that he meant, “Have you ever taken the car into a dealership and had them change the fuel filter?”

What I heard was, “Have YOU ever changed the fuel filter?” I said, “No, how do you do it?” He explained the importance of clamping down the gas lines, how to remove the old one and install a new one.

I thought, “I can do this myself.”

I did not have any tools with me, so I asked him what I needed. I bought the tools and the fuel filter. Then, I went out in the parking lot, crawled under the car and started to work.

Over the next hour or so, customers are coming into the store walking right past me. One lady who was waiting on her husband in the store said, “My husband works on cars, do you need any help?”

Why would she think that? Don’t I look like a mechanic?

I told her that I could handle it, just pray for me. When she saw gas dripping down on me, she went to her trunk and pulled out some paper towels and gave them to me. In the meantime, her husband and his friend came out of the store and then another customer drove up. I had an audience cheering me on. Everyone eventually left and the store closed.

As the sun went down, I am still working on the car in the dark. The manager, who should have been arrested for selling tools to a novice, came out and gave me a flashlight. A few minutes later, I finished the job. I did it myself!

When I test-drove the car, to my surprise, it had the same symptoms even though the fuel filter had been changed.

I remember the manager saying, “If it’s not the fuel filter, it could the catalytic converter.” It’s probably a good thing the store was closed and I could not buy a catalytic converter.

How about you? Are you a “Do it Yourselfer”? Let’s take a poll.

How many of you when you run into a problem your first thought is, “I need to call for help?” Let me see your hands. How many of you think, “I can do this by myself?”

There’s nothing like seeing a completed job knowing that you did it.

Now, on the other hand, there’s nothing like getting into the middle of a project and realize that you are in over your head. How many of you have taken on a project and gotten half way through and realized that you may have bitten off more than you can chew?

I believe you can do a lot of things by yourself, but what I have learned is that projects are a lot easier if you have a little help, the right tools, and a group of people who are cheering you on.

Today, we are starting a new series called, DIY. This title has a dual meaning: “Do it yourself”, but it also means the “Disciple in You”. Over the next three weeks, we are going to talk about some practical steps that you can take to become a disciple of Jesus Christ.

I believe that there is a potential disciple living inside of you. It’s my goal to give you some guidance, provide you with the right tools and help you find a cheering section or a small group to keep you on track.

There is a Disciple In You and I want that disciple to step forward.

When most of us hear the word disciple we think of the twelve guys that Jesus hung out with. Rightly so, but there’s more to it. A disciple is simply a learner, a follower. These twelve guys made a decision to follow Jesus Christ and learn how to live like he lived.

Did you know that we are called to do the same thing? We are called to follow Jesus. That’s the first step in our spiritual journey:

The “How To’s” of Discipleship

1. Be willing to go where He leads.

There are several instances in the scriptures where we see Jesus calling people to follow him. Some of them, like Peter, Andrew, Matthew and the like, immediately left what they were doing and followed Jesus. They were responsive to His call. If Jesus called you, would you be responsive?

There were others, however, that did not go. Instead, they offered excuses. They said, “Jesus, I will follow you but first let me do this or let me take care of that.” Jesus said,

Matthew 16:24-25

24 …“If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me.

25 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.

Again, all of us are called to be disciples. Are we willing to go where He leads us? What does that mean? We have to step out of our comfort zones and follow in his footsteps. We have to be willing.

“Are we willing?” Willingness is the key to the spiritual life. We have to be willing to trust God with every area of our lives and be willing to go where He tells us to go.

Some of you are seekers. You are here investigating Christianity. This is a great place for you to be and I encourage you to be here every week. I want you here every week watching the Christ followers here at the Creek respond to spiritual challenges. You will be amazed at their stories and encouraged by their faith. Hopefully, by the time this year is over, you will say, “Lord, I am willing to go. I am willing to follow you.”

Willingness is the key that opens the door to the spiritual life. Without your willingness God can do very little in your life, but with your willingness there is no end to what God can do in you and through you. I believe that God wants to challenge all of us in the area of willingness.

Are we willing to go where God calls us to go? Jesus said, “Come follow me.”

We, not only have to be willing, but we have to take a step.

2. Be courageous enough to take a step.

We have to move.

Matthew 4:19-20

19 "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."

20 At once they left their nets and followed him.

Luke 5:27-28

27 After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. "Follow me," Jesus said to him,

28 and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.

There comes a point in your life when you have to make a move. You have to do something. Levi got up and followed him. Many people say that they are willing, but willingness is only part of the puzzle, you have to take that step. You have to move.

I meet people who willingly come to church every week, but they have not taken a step toward Christ. I know people who have made a decision to follow Christ, but they have never moved forward in their faith. A disciple steps out in faith.

Last week Patty and I were in Dallas trying to get to Greenville to check on my Dad after his cancer surgery. He is still in the hospital, but doing much better. The plane was late because of some summer storms. After waiting a hour and a half we got on the plane. We were relieved. We were the last ones to get on the plane and were excited to have a seat. We were sitting at the very back of the plane.

Once we were seated, we waited for the plane to take off. Five minutes turned into ten and then into fifteen. Then an attendant walked back to our seats and said, “I am sorry to have to tell you this, but you’ve got to get off the plane because there is too much weight on the plane.” I was okay until I realized that there was a Jenny Craig representative waiting for me at the gate. We were on the plane but we did not take off.

I meet people who are willing to come to church, but they have never taken a step of faith. They have never taken off. They are riding on someone else’s faith. It’s time to “do it yourself”. It’s time to step out in faith.

Luke 5:28

… Levi got up, left everything and followed him.

A disciple steps out in faith. There will be times when you have to walk away from some things in order to experience the life that God has for you.

3. Be determined to turn away from your past.

You cannot experience new life living the same old way.

It’s time for a change. Do something different. Step out and follow in the footsteps of Jesus.

The disciples, not only left their comfort zones to follow Jesus, but they also invested their energies in becoming like him. For three years, they listened to his teachings and modeled his behavior. For three years, they trained and they learned what it meant to trust Jesus.

Have you trusted Jesus with your life? Seriously. Do you trust Jesus with your life? So many of us believe that to trust Jesus with our lives means that He has an arrangement to get us into heaven after we die.

That’s true, but it is more than that. When the Bible talks about trusting Jesus, it simply means to think that Jesus is right about everything.

I’ve met a lot of people who can trust Jesus to get them into heaven, but they don’t trust Him for anything else. They don’t trust what Jesus actually said about money. They don’t trust what He says about anger or prayer or sex or worry or fear or servant hood or caring for the poor.

People think they trust Jesus; but they have never seriously faced the decision, Will I do what He said?

A disciple does what Jesus did. Are you willing to live like Jesus lived? Are you willing to embrace his ethics and emulate his practices?

Becoming a Christian is more than joining the church; it’s more than showing up at a service. A disciple lives like Jesus lived.

Here’s the point:

4. Trust His message enough to live by it.

If I don’t think He is right, I can’t trust Him. If I don’t trust Him, I can’t follow Him.

Jesus was the Son of God. He is the Savior of the World. Jesus also is a really smart guy. And, He knows what He is talking about. That is why He says, “Do as I say.”

The New Testament was written in the Greek language. The Greek word for disciple was mathetes. In the original context, when Jesus was calling people to be his disciples, he was saying, become my apprentice.

An apprentice is someone who wants to learn a craft and says to a master of that craft: I would be willing to be with you to learn from you how to do what you do.

Matthew 11:28-29

28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

We are here to learn from Him. If I take His yoke it is no longer an option for me to say no to Him in any area of my life. Because the choice is to be with Him to learn from Him how to do what He does in this world and, of course, in the world to come. He is the teacher; we are the students. Listen to His words.

Luke 6:39-40

39 …"Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit?

40 A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.

If we embrace His words, our lives will be changed.

1 Timothy 4:7-8

7 Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.

8 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

A disciple commits his life to living like Jesus lived. Here’s the bottom line. Jesus wants you to model your life after His life. Strive to walk in His footsteps. You’ve got to be willing. You need to be courageous enough to take a step. Be determined to turn away from your past and trust His message enough to live by it.

All of us have a deep desire to live the best life possible. We cannot experience that kind of life until we are willing to surrender it all to Jesus. I want you to take up your cross and follow Him.

In the church where I grew up, sometimes we used to do evangelism with folks and often we would start with this question: What if you were to die tonight? But that is not the real question, the real question is:

• What if you don’t die tonight?
• What if you wake up tomorrow and you are still alive?
• How are you going to live?
• Who are you going to follow?
• Who are you going to trust?

I want you to trust Jesus.

Let’s stand for a moment of reflection and a time of prayer.