The Good News According to Luke: Part 3
Pastor: Rollan Fisher
Focus: Jesus wants you to be a healed disciple who makes disciples.
Being a Disciple
Healed by the Master
To Make Disciples
Being a Disciple
God is not simply looking for believers, he is looking for disciples.
Luke 5:1-11
“On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.”
What does it mean to be a disciple?
A disciple is one who patterns their thoughts, speech and actions - their life pursuits - after their teacher.
Jesus says that when you are following him, he is going to make you into something - a fisher of men.
If you are truly walking with Jesus and daily obeying his voice, you will be actively involved in telling others about Christ and his Kingdom.
This is what it means to be a fisher of men.
Your faith in Christ’s substitutionary work at the cross and his subsequent resurrection from the dead is what saves you.
Your obedience to Christ, being actively involved in the mission of Jesus, is what God uses to save others.
1 Timothy 4:16 ESV
“Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.”
What do you need to leave in order to follow Jesus?
Is it the fear of man?
Is it hedonism?
Is it selfish living?
From what does God need to heal you?
Healed by the Master
Jesus wants to heal you as his disciple.
Luke 5:12-26 ESV
“While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him. And he charged him to tell no one, but “go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray. On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with him to heal. And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, “Why do you question in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed—“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.” And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God. And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen extraordinary things today.””
In addition to physical restoration, in what ways does Jesus look to heal you?
Jesus wants to cleanse you, meaning that Jesus wants to heal you of impure patterns, guilt and shame.
Jesus wants you to get unstuck, meaning Jesus wants to heal you of emotional and spiritual paralysis.
To Make Disciples
When we have received from the Lord as a disciple, Jesus expects us to turn around and give as a disciple.
Luke 5:27-39 ESV
“After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything, he rose and followed him. And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’””
When Levi was called by Jesus, he immediately turned around to reach others.
But who did he turn to reach?
Of course, you would invite those who love Jesus and need a home to the party!
But Jesus said that he came not for the healthy, but the sick, to call not the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
This is where we begin as we think about who Jesus came to call as disciples.
It is not those who have it all together, but those who are presently opposed to God and bound by sin that are Jesus’ primary candidates for recruitment.
Why?
Because as Jesus would later say, “those who are forgiven much, love much.”
That means your family members, friends, neighbors and co-workers who do not yet believe in or follow Jesus are the very ones that he came to call as disciples!
If you’ve ever felt like this spiritually 😉
You can begin with one and the One to One
And become this:
When we have met Jesus in a real and powerful way, the best thing to do is gather our friends, family and acquaintances together to meet the King as well.
Don’t disqualify yourself as a disciple-maker.
We can always say I am too young or too old, am too busy, am not a professional or don’t know enough.
***However, what we saw Levi do is IMMEDIATELY JUMP IN THE GAME BY INVITING PEOPLE TO AN ENVIRONMENT WHERE THOSE HE KNEW COULD MEET JESUS.***
You can do that through church, community group or even community day - wherever Jesus is being honored and the Word of God is being taught.
Jesus was willing to use those who simply made themselves available to influence others for the Kingdom of God.
“I tell my students, ‘When you get these jobs that you’ve been so brilliantly trained for, just remember that your real job is that if you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else.”
-Toni Morrison
Levi didn’t cut off his natural relationships, but started with that pool of people knowing that they could be forever changed by Jesus, just as he was.
Let’s meet Christ freshly at the cross today, and bring others to experience the same freedom that we have so graciously received!
Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher