Last week we were looking at how Jesus not only made and taught disciples, He was a disciple of the Father. Jesus gave us the perfect model for being a disciple. Last week we saw Jesus modeled being a disciple by reflecting the image of God, which we saw can only be done by community as God is community.
No wonder why Satan wants to divide and isolate us! Satan knows love is community and the image of God is reflected only through community. It is also by community that we grow into the image of God. In isolation we grow selfish and self-focused. In community we get on each other’s nerves and drive each other crazy sometimes as part of the growth process. During this process it is tempting to want to run away sometimes and be alone, and that may actually be a momentary solution, but not for the long haul. It may be the brother or sister who is rubbing you the wrong way who is actually polishing your character for heaven.
Sometimes it is tempting to pray that the person annoying us would just go away, but consider this: Saul was a humble man when he became king, but later ego got in the way and destroyed him. When Saul became king no one gave him any trouble. Is that why he became proud and finally let his ego destroy him? I ask this, because when David is anointed king he has opposition from Saul, which kept David humble and may have ended up saving his soul. The person we think Satan sent as a curse may be the person God sent to keep us humble in order to save our soul for eternity.
When tempted to pray that those bothering us would just go away let’s keep in mind,
Joseph did not try to get rid of his brothers. His brothers tried to get rid of Joseph.
David did not try to get rid of Saul. Saul tried to get rid of David.
Mordecai did not try to get rid of Haman. Haman tried to get rid of Mordecai.
Jesus did not try to get rid of the pharisees. The Pharisees tried to get rid of Jesus.
In each case it is the unconverted person who is trying to get rid of the converted person, so keep that in mind whenever you are tempted to pray that God would get rid of someone. Discipleship is all about reflecting the character of God, and God is love and love is community. Love is also seeking to save the lost.
for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:10 NKJV
Jesus did not spend all his time with church people. He spend His time with some pretty rough sinners. He mentored them, ate with them and taught them to follow Him. I imagine if Jesus were here on earth today His cell phone contact list would be filled with names and numbers of unchurched people. Look at your cell phone contact list. How many unchurched people are on your list? This may give you an idea as to how well you are following the Model Disciple. How many unchurched people do you invite to your home? What is your attitude towards sinners in your church?
A while back I was teaching a new believers Sabbath School class, and a young man showed up who was obviously unchurched. In sharing with us his struggles he used a four letter word. Most all of my class were so tuned in to his feelings that they did not take special note of the four-letter word. One member later talked to me and encouraged me to let him know we don’t use that word here. Which do you find more concerning? A Sabbath school class with an unchurched man who accidentally lets one bad word slip, or a Sabbath school class where you never have to worry about hearing a foul word because that class would never dare allow an unchurched person to attend?
My point is that discipling the way Jesus discipled may not always be pretty. Being pretty is not the goal. Seeking and saving the lost is the goal. There are a lot of difficult unchurched people who are seeking for Jesus.
Often we regard as hopeless subjects the very ones whom Christ is drawing to Himself.-Ellen White, Christ Object Lessons, Page 72
There may be some apparently hopeless subjects in your community that the other churches in your area have spurned and turned away. Is your church ready to pray, “Jesus please send us all the hopeless outcasts the other churches in our community don’t want to deal with. Please send them to us Jesus and let our church love the people the other churches in our community refuse to love.”
Jesus told His disciples,
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
Matthew 28:19-20 NKJV
This means way more than reaching out to our Catholic and Protestant brothers and sisters with the truth about the Sabbath. It means reaching out to a secular society cutting and drugging themselves. It means reaching out to them with the good news about the Savior. To follow our Model Disciple we must reach out to and disciple apparently hopeless people just like our Model Disciple, Jesus did.
(1)Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/jesus-the-model-disciple-part-2/
