Apprentice to Jesus

About a hundred years ago in the American Midwest, a boy grew up absolutely fascinated

with circuses. He just heard so many things about the circus and all through his childhood

he just dreamt of possibly seeing one one day. So you can imagine how excited he was

when one day a poster went up in the town where he lived announcing that a circus was coming

the following month. It cost a dollar to go in which hundreds or so years ago was quite

a lot of money to him. He pleaded with his parents and they said that provided he did

some work around the farm then they would give him the dollar and he could go to the circus.

So he worked really hard and he got so excited about this big event and eventually the big

day came round and he went into the farmhouse kitchen. His mother gave him his one dollar

bill and he ran as fast as he could across the fields into the town. As he approached

he stood there and he could hear the sounds of the circus and he could hear the sounds

of music. He could, as he stood by the side of the road, he then watched as the circus walked

past and he saw acrobats, he saw jugglers, sword swallowers, fire eaters, he saw animals,

he saw all sorts of different things. And eventually after what seemed like quite a long time feeling

really really excited and really full of the experience, he took out his dollar bill and handed

it to a passing clown before making his way back home. He thought he'd seen the circus.

He had, but it wasn't. It was the circus parade.

Now you may have heard me tell that story before, it's quite an old one, but I share it with you

today because it helps us understand, it helps us into what is a really really vital thing when it

comes to Christian discipleship. The longer you've been a follower of Jesus, the more at risk you are

at thinking that you've experienced all there is to experience of him.

And the longer that you've been coming to church, the more familiar you are with the songs and the

words of the Bible and Christian books that you may have read and talks you may have heard, the more

you can feel that you've been there and you've done it and there's nothing more to be had.

Such that if we're not careful, and particularly when we combine that with the emphasis that we

quite rightly place on Christian faith being something that you have to make a decision for,

and that it's something that we need to decide over, you know, someone else can't make a decision for you,

you need to decide to follow Jesus. We emphasize that so much, such that we can end up unwittingly

with a version of the gospel which effectively says that becoming a Christian is an event that

happens in a time and a place, or maybe a build-up gradually to it, but that moment of decision is made,

and we lose sight of the reality that the Christian gospel and everything that it says is not about

just that moment of decision initially to follow Jesus, but a whole life of growing and maturing in

Jesus. And that is what we're talking about when we talk about discipleship. That the gospel is not

about a message that you make a decision over and then that's it, but rather it's a message that we

need to be refilled with and refilled with, a message that says to us that God is somebody who wants us to

know and to grow in him, in us, more and more and more every single day.

During the great revivals of the 1700s in this country, broadly speaking, there were many more,

but there were two particular key figures. One was Whitfield and the other was Wesley. And it was often

said that of the two preachers, Whitfield was more dynamic. People would come to hear him and perhaps

more initially changed by his message. But of Wesley, although he was also pretty dynamic,

the thing that set apart the whole what came to be known as the Methodist movement was because

Wesley understood that coming to faith in Christ, yes it may be an event, but it's just the beginning,

not the end point. Such that he invested everything, not just into telling people about Jesus, but in

in arranging people into groups and they called them classes in those days, but people that would join

these groups and meet in people's homes and with the expectation that they would grow and keep on

growing. And this found its way into Wesley's theology. He said this, when you have attained a measure of

perfect love, when God has enabled you to love him with all your heart and all your soul, get this, he said,

think not of resting there. That is impossible. And here he goes, he gets really black and white about this.

You cannot stand still. You must either rise or fall.

Rise higher or fall lower.

Now in this last week, it was a bit of a marker for me because it was 25 years ago this last week that I started

ordained ministry. And as I look back at all the different people that I've met over the years in

the years in different places from different ages and different walks of life, it breaks my heart that

there's a pattern that I've noticed that repeats itself over and over again. And as I say, it's not

confined to any particular background or to any particular age group, but I encountered it fairly

early on when I first became a minister and have encountered it ever since.

And now I will get into a conversation and it will go something like this. Somebody will be saying to me,

you know,

I used to kind of get really excited about faith. And I remember when I first heard about Jesus and

and when I first started coming to church and it was great, but somehow I haven't got that spark anymore.

And it feels like things have just dried up.

And I'm not really sure that church is relevant and I'm not sure that that that where I am with faith anymore.

Now, I'm talking very broad brush terms, but in different forms, I've had those sorts of conversations

over and over and over again. And the single unifying factor that I noticed over and over again is that when you

begin to drill down into that person's story and that experience, it would seem that it comes down to

one and the same thing, almost without exception, and it is this, that whether they were aware of it or not,

but the understanding of their faith in Jesus seems to be such that it was confined to that moment of

coming to him. To the point that it eclipsed the equally important theme that being a follower of

Jesus is not just the initial coming to him, but it is a daily recognition that he is there and that

as you set out with every day, yes, every day, whatever situation you are in, he is there for you,

wanting you to know him more and to grow in that knowledge that he is there and that knowledge of

his love and to know the reality, to grow and to keep on growing and to keep on growing.

And I think that that is what Wesley was getting at when he said, you cannot stand still.

You can either rise or fall. If you have an idea that becoming a Christian is a static thing,

then don't be surprised when your faith becomes static.

Tragically, we can have this idea of the Christian message of grace, of coming to Jesus,

that is almost transactional. You give your life to Jesus and you get eternal life back and that's it.

Thank you, Jesus. I'll see you in heaven.

There's that, the late Dallas Willard, who was a brilliant Christian philosopher who died not that

long ago, a few years ago. He said this in his book called The Great Omission. He said,

we have multitudes of professing Christians who may well be ready to die, but obviously are not ready to live.

See, being a follower of Jesus is not just about taking out an eternal insurance policy,

but when eventually you depart from this mortal coil, then you're okay for eternity.

It starts now. And that means that when you become a follower of Jesus, it's not just a waiting around,

waiting for eternity to happen, but rather it really does begin now in a way that is, well,

there's a suddenness about it, but there will be a gradual thing that doesn't stop in this life.

And that's why Christianity is not just a pie in the sky when you die thing.

And it's not even, as somebody once put its steak on a plate while you wait. It's a living reality

that is relevant to every single life situation you can possibly find yourself in. Why? Because

Jesus is there in that situation saying, okay, so here we are. How are we going to face this then?

And as we face those decisions, how are you going to grow closer?

Now that's exciting. That's really exciting.

As John Mark Comer puts it in this book, which is in fact, in some ways, his book, Practising the Way,

is nothing new. It's old truths, but they're just presented in a really fresh way, I think.

But I think as he rather brilliantly puts it, he says, salvation is less about getting you into heaven,

and is more about getting heaven into you.

See, following Jesus is that eternal promise, but that eternal promise that you can live in the light of now,

and that can live in you now.

As far as I'm aware, as far as I can tell, nowhere, anywhere in the Gospels did Jesus ever talk about

following him as a one-in-time thing. The Gospel was never presented as a thing that just happens once and then that's it.

Rather, it was all about this theme of growing into the kingdom of God,

of call to repentance, which means a turning around in a dynamic, not a static way,

whereby we know him and we get to know him more and more and more and more,

which is why he says, come, follow me.

Jesus never spoke about making converts,

only ever about making disciples.

What does it mean to be a follower, to be a disciple?

Well, in Jesus' day and culture,

to have followed him

would have been like following a rabbi,

a great religious teacher,

a spiritual leader.

Of course, Jesus was so much more than just that.

But, to our 21st century Western ears,

perhaps the closest we can get to understanding that

is the idea of being an apprentice.

You see, to be an apprentice

means that you are following somebody oh so closely,

that you do what they do,

you learn from them,

you listen so carefully to what they say,

so that you would copy them and do the same things,

and eventually become like them.

To be an apprentice

is to strive to be able to do what the Master shows you.

Now, every analogy eventually breaks down,

but stay with me for this.

That being a follower of Jesus

is in many ways like being an apprentice.

It's so much more than that.

But it involves doing the things that Jesus did,

learning more about how he does things,

that we might copy him

and become more like him.

And that's a lifelong process

that never, ever stops.

And over these next few weeks,

we're going to be thinking a little bit about

more what that means in practical terms.

But what I want to do now

is just come to the last part of that reading

that Catherine read to us just now,

because it really unpacks it

in a very powerful way.

Philippians 2,

just those last two verses,

12 and 13,

where Paul writes,

continue to work out your salvation

with fear and trembling.

For it is God who works in you

to will and to act

in order to fulfil his good purpose.

It seems to me that in Philippians in general,

and in those verses in particular,

we have two things that are caught up there.

Firstly, Paul talks about

working out your salvation.

Salvation is something you've got to work out.

Now notice he does not say

you've got to work for your salvation.

As he calls us here,

as he rallies people to say,

look guys, you've got to make some effort here

to grow as Christians,

effort does not mean earning.

Quite clearly, Paul is not talking about that

because throughout his entire message,

throughout the whole of the New Testament,

faith is,

sorry,

the gospel is presented as something

that we don't have to earn God's favour,

it's a given.

But nevertheless,

we are called to work out.

It's from that place of knowing

knowing that God loves you unconditionally,

he has accepted you and set you free

and gifted you with eternal life

and his presence now.

It is from that knowledge

that we are called to work out

with fear and trembling

what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

But secondly, equally important,

that gift of salvation

is precisely that.

It is 100% God's gift to you.

Two stories,

just to unpack those two things.

The first one is this.

Paul goes on to say

in the following chapter of Philippians,

he says,

I press on towards the goal.

In other words,

that call to work out salvation

is like running a race.

It's going to involve effort.

In 1968,

the Olympics took place

in Mexico City.

And John Stephen Aquari

was a runner.

He represented Tanzania

in the marathon.

Now, Aquari was an elite runner.

He'd won many

marathons across Africa.

But at Mexico City,

in the Olympics,

he encountered something

that he hadn't encountered before.

And it was a massive altitude change.

Such that,

even though he easily qualified

to run in the Olympics,

midway through the race,

he suffered extreme cramps.

And he eventually fell down,

dislocating a knee.

But Aquari wasn't to be beaten by this.

He eventually got up

and he limped his way

through the second half

of that marathon.

When he eventually

got into the stadium,

the stadium had virtually

emptied of the crowds.

There was just

about 100 people there,

apparently.

But he came in

around about an hour

after the winner of the race.

Afterwards,

he was interviewed.

And the person interviewing

said to Aquari,

why didn't you just give up

when your knee seized up like that?

And he said this,

my country did not send me

5,000 miles

to start the race.

They sent me 5,000 miles

to finish the race.

Being a follower of Jesus

means that we come to him.

It might be suddenly,

it might be gradually.

But Paul talks about it

in terms of being a race

not as something

that we've got to somehow

work really hard

in order to earn

our salvation,

but rather because

this message

that death is defeated,

that we are set free

for all eternity,

means that we can

face the battles

of everyday life now.

Expect it to be hard work

and expect to have

to make effort,

but we do so

knowing that God

is there

and that he set us free

in order to run

that race.

And the second story

I want to share with you

is just to illustrate

actually that

it is 100%

God's gift to us

in case we're tempted

to think otherwise.

Because notice that

he says

that Paul writes

that, you know,

it is God

who works in you

to will and to act

in order to fill

his good purpose.

There's a story,

it's about this boy

who went into

a sweet shop one day

and he went in

with his mum.

She was buying

a present for a cousin.

So she went over

to the other side

of the shop

and she was looking

for something to buy

and the boy was

standing there

at the counter

and it was one of those

old-fashioned sweet shops

with the jars

and the shopkeeper

saw this boy

just staring

at this particular

jar of sweets.

There was no one

else around

so he grabbed

the shopkeeper,

grabbed the jar down,

took the lid off

and held it out

in front of the boy

and he said,

look,

you can help yourself,

you can have

a handful of sweets.

The boy just stared

back at him

not quite knowing

what to say.

He said,

no,

go on,

quick,

before someone

else comes in

you can have

a handful of sweets.

Still the boy

was frozen to the spot.

He said,

look,

have a handful

and the boy

would do nothing

so eventually

the shopkeeper

reached his hand

into the jar,

filled his hand

with the sweets

and gave them

to the boy

who put them

in his pocket.

Well eventually

him and his mum

got out of the shop

and they were

standing outside

and his mum

who'd overheard

all this,

he said,

why on earth

did you not

accept the handful

of sweets

when the shopkeeper

offered it to you?

He said,

his hands

were so much

bigger than mine.

It's not what we do,

it's what God does.

That's the message

that Paul is getting

so excited

and so passionate

about as he writes

to the Philippian people.

When he says,

run the race,

but run the race

and work out

your salvation

and make the effort

not because

you've got to

somehow win that race

because it's already

been won for you

and not because

you've somehow

got to earn salvation

because it's already

been given to you

but because

that is that

precious,

precious gift.

Know that it is yours.

Own it with confidence.

Grow in it

and keep on growing.

So as we start

this series today

and over these

next few weeks

we're going to be

thinking more about

what that means.

To grow

and to keep on growing.

We're going to pray now

and as we come to pray

let's just bring

our own lives

before God now

and ask him

wherever we are at

however we feel

about our own

faith right now

let's ask him to

in a way that

will probably be unique

to each and every one

of us in the room

let's ask him

to help us to grow.

Let's pray.

Lord God

each and every one of us

will be at a different

point

in that

journey of discipleship.

It may be that

we've not been

Christians for long

it might be

that perhaps

we haven't even

made that decision

for you yet

or it might be

that we've made

that decision

for you

a long time ago

it may be

that we do feel

that we're drying up

spiritually

or it might be

that we feel

really excited

and are passionate

about our faith

and we're just

poised and expectant

to do the things

that you want us to do

but Lord

whatever our

experience is

right now

thank you

that you know us

even better

than we know

ourselves

and so like

Lord right now

whatever is going on

in our own lives

meet us there

Lord right now

come Holy Spirit

come Holy Spirit

come Holy Spirit

let's just take a moment

just to wait

on him

Lord whatever

we might feel

about you

or think about you

meet us in that place

Lord we are sorry

for the things

that we have said

or done

or not said

and done

that has slowed

down that

that growth

Lord we thank you

that your message

to us is consistent

your message is that

we are loved

we are forgiven

and that you want us

to know that

and to grow in that

so Lord help us

to grow

Lord as we face

whatever comes

in this next week

may we grow

through each conversation

each decision

each set of circumstances

that comes our way

help us to be

apprentices to you

to grow

and to keep on growing

Lord as we continue

to worship you now

move among us

in your spirit

in Jesus name

Amen

to the Lord

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