The Path of Discipleship

We really do love the church and we love what God's doing in the

church. And last week there was an

amazing word that was brought by James.

He spoke about the path of life and how we shepherded into the

presence of God, into his purposes.

And when we get to a point where we say the Lord is my Lord,

where there's a personal relationship that starts with

Jesus, we come to a place where we see him as our refuge, our

counsel, our authority. We come under his authority.

And as a result of that, our lives are completely different.

And I loved just hearing what James had to say.

And I was just praying through the week and I kind of felt like

this morning. I want to carry on with the

theme of that. But instead of speaking about

the path of life, which is about our lives and in relationship to

God, but actually to speak about the path of discipleship, should

I maybe get the other night? OK, this is good.

All right, wonderful. So the path of discipleship, we

are commissioned by God. We are commissioned by Jesus to

make disciples. There's like a green light from

heaven that green lighters go, go and make disciples of all

nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and

the Holy Spirit, teaching them all of what I've obeyed taught

you and that they would obey that.

And so there's, there's a heavenly commissioning over our

lives and to disciple people is, is not the easiest thing in the

world, but it's something that we are commissioned to do.

And God helps us in this. And Jesus is probably the best

example that we could ever find of how to disciple.

And the account of the two disciples on the Rote Emmaus is

what I would like to read this morning.

And to just draw a few things that Jesus shows us as to how we

actually go about discipling others.

Because our Christian walk is not just about us and God.

It's about how we are to be God's hands and feet towards

others who are needing to be discipled.

And when we disciple one another and when we disciple people into

this beautiful relationship, and then we start to see God's work

through His church, which is how He works.

He wants to work through us. So here we go reading from Luke

24 from verse 13. It says now that same day two of

them were going to a village called Emmaus about 7 miles from

Jerusalem. They were talking with each

other about everything that had happened.

So that same day as the day of Jesus resurrection, so it's the

weekend of his crucifixion. And and so they talking about

this and they're walking to Emmaus from Jerusalem.

As they talked and discussed these things with each other,

Jesus himself came up and walked along with them, but they were

kept from recognizing him. He asked them, what are you

discussing together as you walk along?

They stood still, their faces downcast.

One of them, named Cleopas asked him, Are you only a visitor to

Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there

in these days? What things?

He asked about Jesus of Nazareth, they replied.

He was a prophet, powerful in Word and deed before God and all

the people, the chief priests and all our rulers handed him

over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him.

But we had hoped that He was the one who was going to redeem

Israel. And what is more, it is the

third day since all this took place.

In addition, some of our women amazed us.

They went to the tomb early this morning but didn't find his

body. They came and told us that they

had seen a vision of angels who said He was alive.

Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it's just

as the woman had said. But Him they did not see.

He said to them, How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to

believe all that the prophets have spoken.

Did not the Christ have to suffer these things, and then

enter His glory? And beginning with Moses and all

the prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the

Scriptures concerning Himself. As they approached the village

to which they were going, Jesus acted as if He were going

farther, but they urged him strongly.

Stay with us, for it is nearly evening, the day is almost over.

So He went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with

him, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and began to give it

to them. Then their eyes were opened and

they recognized him, and He disappeared from their sight.

They asked each other. Were not our hearts burning

within us while He talked with us on the road and opened the

Scriptures to us? They got up and returned at once

to Jerusalem. There they found their leaven

and those with them assembled together.

And saying, it is true, the Lord has risen and has appeared to

Simon. Then the two told what had

happened on the way and how Jesus was recognized by them

when he broke the bread. Amen.

An amazing passage, an incredible account.

But what we see is there's two followers of Jesus who have lost

complete hope. They've lost hope, and then hope

is restored. By the end of the account, hope

is restored and they have hope again.

Part of the problem was that their hope was in something

immediate and temporal. But what Jesus did on the cross

was not immediate. It was ultimate.

It wasn't temporal, it was eternal.

And so this realization came upon them that what we were

hoping for something immediate and temporal, which by virtue of

Jesus being crucified was like, Oh my goodness, we thought he

would be this conqueror. He would be this Messiah that

would, you know, sort out the Romans and, and deliver us from

oppression. But by the end of the story,

they realize actually Jesus was doing something far greater.

And so hope is restored in them. And the story starts with him

walking away from Jerusalem and it ends with him walking to

Jerusalem. And Jerusalem was always a, a, a

symbol of the presence of God, the presence of God and the

purposes of God. So it starts with him walking

away from the presences, the presence and the purposes of

God. And it ends with him walking

towards the presence of God and the purposes of God and this

incredible discipleship that happens by Jesus.

We see this almost like progressive elements.

I wouldn't want to say that there's like a script and

there's like, here's the manual, but certain things that Jesus

does is just incredible to see. And so I want to just work

through some of those this morning.

But the first thing that we see is that Jesus walked along with

him. It says in verse 15, as they

talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus

himself came up and walked along with him.

Now, that at face value might not seem like much, but here's

what's important for us to see. What Jesus does is that he walks

on their Rd. in their direction. He doesn't walk in a way where

he's like, you know, have you ever bumped into someone who's

like Christian police? You know, you're on the wrong

side of the road, you're moving in the wrong direction.

Can I just stop you there? He doesn't do that.

He walks along with them. He respects their journey.

So they're confused, they downcast.

He doesn't try and counter it. He doesn't try and stop them.

It's like, oh, I'll walk, I'll walk along with you.

I love that about him. How are we doing in that regard?

I want to like ask that question of myself because sometimes we

get so quick in wanting to give people an answer.

We're so quick in wanting to correct where we see people are

moving in the wrong direction and where people are maybe

moving away from the presence of God.

Like let's just give them the right answer right now.

Like we've got the answer. Like I'm just burning to get no,

actually there's something of a respecting their journey and a

walking along with them. I think the question we got to

ask is what are we hoping for? I'll give you the answer.

It's conviction. We want a conviction of heart.

Like we want people who are moving in the wrong direction

must have a conviction of heart. If if you become the Christian

police, all you're actually introducing is confrontation,

not conviction. So we, we want to allow a

walking along with people in a way that God doesn't work in

their hearts. He brings conviction.

Why must we be the ones to confront?

Let's walk along with them. I had a, a Barber that I, I went

to regularly for a season. He was a very interesting young

man. He had rather distasteful and

dark tattoos all over. I have to say distaste,

distasteful and dark because nowadays if you just say tattoos

doesn't mean anything but distasteful and dark tattoos.

He had one, I mean, he's his one arm was just completely black.

It was like he had dipped his arm in ink and, and it was just

black like from his shoulder all the way down.

And he had these earplugs, you know what those, Yep, like they

put it in the lobe of the ear like it was almost like the size

of an Oreo, like these plugs. And he was delightful.

I absolutely loved him. And so I would go regularly and,

and he was a very highly opinionated strong view.

I mean, he was very young, but he thought he knew everything

and, and he would share his views and talk about life.

And, and I felt like there was so many times where I wanted to

say, no, that's not right or actually, can I just help you

there? But I felt almost like a

heavenly restraint on that. And, and it was just in God's

grace that I was able to just sit there and listen to him.

And they're not asking questions.

I love how Jesus asked his questions.

Like what things? What are you guys discussing?

Like, you know, the stuff of the weekend and, and what happened

these things. Jesus was the one that was

crucified and here he's saying what things if anyone knows what

happened that weekend, he does and yet he's asking what things.

And so asking questions is important.

And, and, and, and so like the one day I walked in there and

he's, he had taken his earplugs out because I don't know, you

have to give it a break or whatever.

So these like little dangling earlobes and I was like, Hey,

put, put your plugs back in. You're putting everyone off

calamari. What's going on here?

Like these things, there's no, this is not going to work.

I can't focus. I'm looking at you in the

mirror. It's just anyway.

So what I realized about him is that as much as he knew all

these things or thought he knew all these things, he didn't have

any hope. He had no hope.

And all of his strong opinions and all of the things that he

was trying to search and talk about was his attempt to find

answers and, and he just wasn't finding them.

And, and so I just said to him one day, but I think you're

sitting with the wrong world view.

You have a secular world view. And I, and I think you must

start thinking about a biblical world view.

And he was like, what does that mean?

I said, well, a world view is, it's, it's what you come to when

you answer the questions of origin and morality and meaning

and destiny. And if you're not using the

Bible to answer those questions, then you're drawing the answers

from what the world gives you. And that's a secular worldview.

And he was like, wow, OK, so tell me more about how do I get

the answers from the Bible? But you see, when that happened,

I had already been walking along with him.

I mean, not literally, I was sitting, but there was a journey

like we were, we were we were building a relationship.

I was allowing him to be on his journey.

And when it came to the time where I felt like a prompting of

God, and it's like he was open. So respect the journey.

You see, we can't expect a change from them if there's not

a change in them. Like sometimes we're looking for

behavior change, like you must act like this and you must do

that. But how's that possible if

there's not a change from within?

So like if there's not a change inside, don't expect a change on

the outside. Just respect their journey.

The second thing that we see is that Jesus explained to them, it

says did not the Christ have to suffer these things?

This is Jesus speaking. He proclaims the gospel and then

into his glory and beginning with Moses and all the prophets,

he explained to them what was said in all the scriptures

concerning himself. You see, Jesus believed in the

word of God. I mean, I would love to see the

playback of those two hours of walking or however long it was

that they were on that road because it's so amazing that

Jesus was actually speaking in the third person.

Like they didn't recognize him. They were kept from recognizing

He's speaking to them and explaining Scripture in their

eyes, not as Jesus, but as this man.

And he's referring to Jesus in Scripture.

And he would go there. Why would he go to Scripture?

I mean, he's so unconventional and I love that about him.

I mean, if it was me and, and like, I was in those shoes, like

I wouldn't have done it like that.

I mean, what, what, what is it that they're needing to see?

They're needing to see that Jesus is alive.

They needed to see all of what Jesus said is valid and true.

That's what they needed to see. I mean, I would have just said,

like, hey, guys, have you got any water?

I can turn it into wine maybe you know is there a fig tree

nearby Just curse it any elements anyone pulled a hemi or

can I can I pray for you like Jesus doesn't go there.

What does he do He opens up the word of God because he believes

the word of God is powerful and and and opening up scripture

another. I want to honor RAW, you know,

because if, if we think of Rory, most of you who know him would

say he's an open heart. He's got an open wallet.

But I want to tell you something.

He has an open Bible and that's why he has an open heart and an

open wallet is because he has a revelation from because we're.

But I've sat in meetings with him, from board meetings to

moments of correction with people and counsel and heard the

stories of when he is sitting next to someone on a plane.

And it's like Romans 8I rule. It's just, can we just, you

know, like, who are we to think we've got the answers, the word

of God? And I want to thank you for

making the word of God so important in everything you do

and in your life. And it's been a, it's been a

tremendous example for me. And so the example of Jesus and

the example of many among us, we can see the power of God's word.

You know, there was a couple that came and met with us about

10 years ago and they got our number.

This is when we're still living in Pretoria.

They got a number from someone, I think in the church.

I'm not really sure, but they were having marriage woes.

And that's putting it lightly. We were sitting on our patio and

talking or we started talking, but then it became more of like

mudslinging and Anthony and I were just sitting there keeping

quiet. And this was like going

backwards and forth between these two and.

And I was thinking, what do we say at a time like this?

You know, I mean, I'm not even thinking like, how do I counsel

them to have a happy marriage? I'm just like, how do I counsel

them, you know, to stop them from killing one another?

This is. Yeah, yeah.

Just tell them to keep quiet. But I I sat there and I was

thinking and I could see on my wife's face because she

oftentimes looks at me with this look that I know.

It's like you say something, you know, you should say something

now. And I just kept quiet and I was

listening and listening. And while I'm listening, I'm

also praying. So I'm like listening to what

they saying, but I'm also like, Lord, I'm trying to listen, like

what do I do? Yeah.

And I just thought that God say go get your Bible.

It's a little bit of a big should have already been there.

But anyway, excuse myself on the table and I go get my Bible.

Come back, open it up. Ephesians 5 And I said, I just

want to read this quickly. And so the passage on marriage

and I and I just read submit to one another out of reverence for

Christ. And I just keep reading.

Ephesians 5 all the way to the end.

And and when I got to the end and I stopped and I looked up

and what had happened is it had just gone completely silent.

The mudslinging had stopped. And when I stopped reading, it

didn't start again. And we all just sat there

looking at one another. And then the lady said to me,

please don't stop. So by 11:00 that night, we got

to Revelation and and I was just very, I was very glad that I

didn't go to Genesis 2 to read that passage.

It would have been a long night. But anyway, so but basically

what I'm saying is that there was a moment where they just

said the word of God actually needs to come into our lives,

like the Bible was opened and we need to submit ourselves to the

authority of Scripture. And so they, that was 10 years

ago and recently Antoinette got messages from her because

they'll ended up coming into this house and being a part of

what's happening here, but submitting themselves to the

preached word of God, submitting themselves to the Bible being

opened over and over and over again.

And, and the message was to let us know that the son of, I think

probably about 1928 got baptized that morning, You know, so

here's a family that was on the verge of breaking up and much

pain and heartache and, and the word of God gets open and, and

it just gets read and they're like, please don't stop.

We need more of this. We need to just, and so Jesus

opens up scripture in this incredible way.

I mean, I, I'd love to know, like what he said, because he

proclaims the gospel. He says, did not know that the

Christ had to suffer. He helps them with this, You

know, they refer to him as Jesus of Nazareth, You know, no longer

calling him Rabbi and no longer calling him Messiah.

It's like Jesus of Nazareth. He says the Christ, did you not,

did you not know that the Christ, the Messiah had to

suffer and then enter his glory? And then he like he opens up

Scripture, you know, and it's like all the books that Moses

read, all the books that Moses wrote and, and and the prophets

and, and I don't know, but you probably started in Genesis 3.

But the first Messianic promise and and it says that speaking to

the the serpent, you know he will he'll crush your head, you

you'll bruise your heel. And how Jesus would have

potentially spoken about like what happened with Jesus on the

cross was the bruising. But in the bruising, the

crashing happened. And, and all the topology and

the, and the shadows, the four shadows of Scripture, the, the

Passover lamb with the Exodus and Abraham and Isaac and all of

these amazing pictures pointing towards and how he must have

opened up the Scripture to them and shown them all these things.

And, and I mean all the promises, you know, the Old

Testament, all the promises made.

And then in New Testament, all the promises kept.

If you want to kind of just view Scripture in those kind of like

promises made, promises kept. And yes, Jesus saying, OK, here

was this promise. You remember this prophecy,

remember about like that it said he would be born in Bethlehem

and, and that he would be born of a virgin.

And, and these two guys must have been like, yeah, yeah, it

was Bethlehem, remember? I mean, he grew up in in

Nazareth, but he was born in Bethlehem and born a virgin.

OK, So that makes a lot of sense now, because there was that

whole thing with Joseph and Mary and no one really knew what to

make of it. And but it's still kind of like

this unknown thing. But, and Jesus is just opening

up Scripture and that his ministry would begin in Galilee

and and the prophecy of Zechariah and that he, the king,

would bride into Jerusalem on a donkey.

They're like, what? Yeah, he came riding in on a

donkey. And I mean, I love how Jesus

would have just been connecting all the dots for them.

I mean, he wouldn't have done it in the moment, right?

It's not like if someone bumped into him and said, you know, so

where did you grow up? He's like, oh, I grew up in

Nazareth, but I was actually born in Bethlehem, as per the

prophet Micah. And it's like he wouldn't have.

If he came riding on a donkey, you wouldn't have been to his

disciples. Like, it's Zechariah 9.

It's like what's happening now, Zechariah 9.

He wouldn't have, right? So they would have known all of

this Old Testament scripture. And yeah, he is just connecting

all the dots and they're just realizing it's him, it's him,

it's him. And he came riding in on the

10th day of Nissan, which is five days before Passover, which

is the day that you would select your spotless lamb.

And on the day that they would select their spotless lamb for

the Passover would be the day that he would enter into

Jerusalem. Behold the Lamb of God.

Choose your lamb and how the religious leaders were trying

their best for that crucifixion to happen on any other time but

Passover. And as much as they try, they

couldn't get it right. Because He died the same time

that Passover was taking place and that He would be raised on

the festival of first fruits. Why?

Because He was the first fruits of all those who believe in Him.

Because those who believe in Jesus will all be raised with

resurrection glory. God is over everything and Jesus

opens up scripture and as He opens up scripture, their hearts

are set ablize. I love how they say, did not our

hearts burn not when we recognized Him?

Did not our hearts burn when He opened up the Scriptures for us?

You know how encouraging that is because that means we can just

open up Scripture. People might say, oh, I'll

believe when I see Jesus. You know, when I when, when,

when there's something really tangible.

Or, you know, what better evidence would there be if Jesus

had to walk into the room? And Jesus himself keeps them

from recognizing him And they think they're just chatting to

an ordinary man and he opens up Scripture and it's like, oh,

it's burned as he opened up Scripture.

We need to be people of the Bible.

I feel like too many Christians are just various Christians we

know. A few verses I want to say we

should be averse to being averse Christian.

We need to be Bible Christians. We need to know God's word.

We need to open it up. Live with the Bible open.

It's not like a whole bunch of stories in a collection of one

book. It's one story, many books that

makes up this one story. But perfection, separation,

incarnation, transformation, consummation, it's one story.

It's God's redemptive story. It's one story, and it's the

cosmic redemption for those who would put their faith in Jesus

that they would have eternal life.

One story. Can we open up Scripture?

Just like Jesus did not come without clever answers, the next

thing we see is He stays with him.

But they urged him strongly stay with us, for it is nearly

evening, the day is almost over. So He went in to stay with him.

He didn't just stay for dinner, He stayed with him on the road.

And before that, he stayed with him for three years, equipping

and, and through all of what he said.

They're still confused. They still don't get it.

You give me 3 weeks with someone who just doesn't get it and I'll

be like, whatever, dude. Three years.

He stays with him. You see, discipleship is not a

moment, it's a process. It's not an event, it's an

authentic working of God in people's lives.

And so we stay with people. When we stay with people, we see

how how what God gives us and our lives start to have an

impact on their lives and how people can come into community

and see something of a revelation of God and how that

changes their hearts and their lives.

And that spiritual formation that happens over a period of

time starts taking amazing effect in people's lives.

But we've got to stay with them. Are you staying with anyone?

Like, is there staying aspect to your walk as you disciple other

people? There was a voice note that I

got earlier this year in April. Another couple that we

interacted with, that was about 16 years ago and they just

recently got married. But like early in their

marriage, it was like potentially on the rocks and a

friend of his said, no, but you must go to that church.

Like it's just behind where you live.

They were living here in Olympus somewhere.

And it's like, that's that tent. So he he looked it up and he

find and we got chatting and he came and joined a marriage

course that that was being offered here.

Got into life group. And then in the voice note, he

mentions all the names of the life group leaders that had a

profound impact on his life as as he just, you know, kind of

journeyed with God and as they journeyed with God through this

like process of healing and recovery.

And but how people stayed the course with them, Martinus and

Sonia, Klopper, Luther and Sam and just people that just

journeyed with them, stayed with them.

And he, his daughter happened to get baptized here as well.

That was the reason for him sending the voice night.

And he sends me this photo of him and his daughter in the pool

right there. And on this massive display,

this incredible picture of the two of them and the lyrics of

the song that was being played in that moment where the photo

was taken said this. But you chased us down in

merciful pursuit, you see, because God chases us down, but

he does it through us, through the church.

And the staying power of Jesus must become the staying power of

our lives. Where we stay with people, He

stays. You know, Jesus faced so much

opposition, but he choose. He chose to stay.

He was betrayed by a friend, but he stayed.

He was denied, but he stayed. He was falsely accused, but he

stayed. He was whipped, beaten, mocked,

but he stayed. At any point in time he could

have called on the heavenly host and it would all been over.

But he stayed. And he faced the brutal

crucifixion and he stayed by we people who stay, stay the course

with people who are in need of shepherding and discipleship,

which leads us into the next point, which is at the table

with him. When he was at the table with

him, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to

them. You know, the Lord's Supper is

this most lavish display of incredible sacrificial love

because it's a representation of Jesus body that was broken for

us and his blood that was spilt for us.

He shed his blood, lost his life so that we could have life.

What sacrificial love, You know it costs to be at the table with

them and discipleship costs. Salvation is free and we thank

Jesus for that. You don't earn it, you don't

achieve it, you just receive it because it's a gift of grace.

But when you come into this relationship and you hear the

commissioning of God, go and make disciples of all nations.

There is great cost attached to that.

And are we willing to have something of sacrificial love

being put on display as we walk along with them, open scripture

with them, stay with them because it's costly?

I made a Methodist pastor that we were invited to this like a

retreat. It was advertised as like this

rest. You know, a bunch of pastors

come and just have a time of rest in Franchuk.

I mean, who would say no? So for a time of rest because

you need to rest. We have like a few days in

Franchuk, but when we get there, we realize this is a silent

retreat. And I was like, Oh my goodness,

this is not going to go down well.

But anyway, they had a bell and they rang this bell every time

it was like AQ for lunch or tea or, and every time they rang the

bell, I'd shot, I scream, but I just, I couldn't handle it.

I don't think I'm going to be invited back.

But anyway, we, we're there and I'm asking this question, Lord,

why are we here? How did I get this wrong?

Did I read this invitation wrong?

Like, well, what am I doing here?

And then we met this young man who's a Methodist pastor who

pastors 2 churches, one in Poland and one in Franchuk.

And he starts to talk to me about what's happening in his

life and just how he is really struggling, feels completely on

his own. And his two boys are struggling

with health issues with their eyes and their ears and needing

treatment. And he doesn't have the finances

for it. And, and as he's talking, I just

felt like I'd say This is why you're here.

And he's desperate for just someone who he can lean on and

like a some kind of mentor or whatever.

But like, so he's voicing all these things and I'm like, OK,

do I say yes to this? Because I know this is going to

cost. This is going to cost me.

If I say yes, it's going to cost me.

But I fault in God, This is why you're here.

So we sit at the table and lastly we see they got up and

returned. They got up and returned at once

to Jerusalem. There they found the 11 and

those with them assembled together saying it is true.

The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.

What an amazing turn around. So Jesus disciples, these two,

and we see this incredible turn around, this change of posture,

no longer downcast. Now they have a position like a

posture of purpose. There's a change of language.

Not we had hoped, Jesus of Nazareth.

No, the Lord has risen. And of course, the change of

direction. Now they're not moving away from

the presence of God. They're moving to the presence

of God and the purposes of God. You know what the one amazing

thing about that moment is? As Jesus wasn't there, He

disappeared before that happened.

And we must know that when a change happens in someone, when

transformation takes place, that is a work that only God can do.

Only God can bring repentance. Only God can turn a heart.

Only God can be the one who would bring this change of

posture, change of language, change of direction.

Only God can do that work on the inside.

And that's sacred ground. That's not ground that we we

dance on. Look what I did.

We step away. So we walk along with them

because revelation precedes transformation.

We explain to them because open Bibles, open hearts.

We stay with them because discipleship is an unfolding

process, not an event. And we sit at the table with

them because there's this temporal cost that we get to

bear, but just know it will be met with eternal reward.

And when they get up in return, we don't take the credit for it.

We give God all the glory and there is the path of

discipleship that I believe God gives us.

Jesus models for us and may we be disciples bringing others

into the presence and the purpose of God.

Amen.