christianity 202

1. Christianity
202

2. As Christians what are we supposed to do?
What’s our mission in life?
What’s our job description?

3. Go therefore and
make disciples
of all the
nations, baptizing
them in the name
of the Father and
the Son and the
Holy Spirit,
Matthew 28:19

4. Make disciples
The Bible never tells us to go and make people Christians.
That is the work of God in the hearts of people, (John 3:8).
The Bible only tells us to go and make disciples. A disciple
is someone who follows their teacher. They go where he
goes and lives the way he lives and is obedient to his
teaching. That doesn’t mean we aren’t supposed to tell
people about Jesus. You can’t follow someone if you don’t
know who he is.

5. Is it easy to be a disciple?
Jesus was the greatest teacher who ever
lived. As the Son of God He not only knew
all things but he knew what was in the
hearts of those He was teaching. Did He
make it easy to become one of His
followers?

6. Then a scribe came
and said to Him,
“Teacher, I will
follow You wherever
You go.”
Matthew 8:19
How did Jesus get
followers?

7. The perfect disciple
A scribe was someone who made copies by hand of the Old
Testament scriptures. Because of this he was someone who was
an authority on God’s word and was in a position to see that
Jesus was the fulfillment of all the prophecies about the Messiah.
And he said, “Teacher I will follow you wherever you go.”
I would have said, “Finally, somebody besides all these dumb
fishermen. Someone who gets it.”
But Jesus said,

8. Jesus said to him,
“The foxes have
holes and the birds
of the air have nests,
but the Son of Man
has nowhere to lay
His head.”
Matthew 8:19-20
How did Jesus get
followers?

9. Jesus knows the heart
At that time everyone thought that when the Messiah came He
would set up His Kingdom and rule the world. Not even John the
Baptist understood that this was the time for the sacrifice that
would save the world and His Kingdom will be an event
separated by at least two thousand years. This scribe was hoping
to get in on the ground floor and be on the winning team.
But Jesus said you can follow Me but I’ve got nothing for you.
I don’t even have a place to lay my head. All I can promise you in
this life is suffering and death, (John 16:33).
Not a good way to get a big following.

10. Another of the disciples
said to Him,
“Lord, permit me first to
go and bury my father.”
But Jesus said to him,
“Follow Me, and allow the
dead to bury their
own dead.”
Matthew 8:21-22

11. Jesus knows the heart
This follower wasn’t saying let me go to my fathers funeral. The
Jewish custom was to immediately bury someone who has died.
He was saying, let me wait until my father dies so I can get the
inheritance.
Jesus was saying let the spiritually dead bury the physically dead.
Let the spiritually dead have the inheritance. You follow Me.
Jesus doesn’t seemed to be impressed by big money followers.

12. Another also said, “I will
follow You, Lord; but first
permit me to say good-bye
to those at home.”
But Jesus said to him,
“No one, after putting his
hand to the plow and
looking back, is fit for the
kingdom of God.”
Luke 9:61-62

13. Jesus knows the heart
This one was saying, let me go home to get the approval of my family. We
know from the history of the first century that most Jewish families did not
approve of Christianity and many children were disowned and some even
killed by family members. Much like Muslims who become Christians today.
Jesus has said that before you follow Him you should count the cost,(Luke
14:28-33). Realize that when you follow Him there will be sacrifices and
there’s no turning back. The problem with Christianity in America is that it
doesn’t cost you anything. If fact, if you just let Jesus be your savior He will
solve all your problems and make you rich, but only if you have enough
faith. How many American “Christians” would stand firm in their faith if
they had to endure the kind of suffering and death that they did in the first
century? Only the real ones.

14. As He was setting out
on a journey, a man ran
up to Him and knelt
before Him, and asked
Him, “Good Teacher,
what shall I do to inherit
eternal life?”
Mark 10:17

15. Jesus knows the heart
What a great question. This man is kneeling before
Jesus, recognizing His authority, and he’s asking,
“What do I have to do to get eternal life?” Jesus not
only knows the answer, He is the answer. But
instead of explaining His sacrificial death that would
atone for his sin Jesus knows this man needs to
understand he’s a sinner who needs a savior.

16. You know the commandments, ‘DO NOT
MURDER, DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT
STEAL, DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, Do not
defraud, HONOR YOUR FATHER AND
MOTHER.’” And he said to Him, “Teacher,
I have kept all these things from my
youth.” Mark 10:19-22

17. Jesus knows the heart
Jesus said, you want eternal life? That’s easy,
just keep all the commandments. Don’t ever
sin. If you want to enter God’s perfect kingdom
you have to be perfect too.
But according to the legalistic Jewish religious
system of that day he thought he had kept the
laws. But still, he knew something was missing.

18. Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and
said to him, “One thing you lack: go and sell
all you possess and give to the poor, and you
will have treasure in heaven; and come,
follow Me.” But at these words he was
saddened, and he went away grieving, for he
was one who owned much property.
Mark 10:19-22

19. Compassion
Jesus could have really laid into him here. He could have called
him a liar and a hypocrite and pointed out all of the sins he
committed just that day, but instead He had compassion for him.
I think Jesus knew that if He allowed this man to follow Him He
could teach him about the Holiness of God and how we all fall
short of it, (Romans 3:23). But first he had to repent. He couldn’t
put his faith and trust in Jesus until he stopped putting his faith
and trust in his money. Money was his god and no one can serve
two masters,(Matthew 6:24).

20. Jesus answered and said to
them, “Children, how hard
it is to enter the kingdom
of God! It is easier for a
camel to go through the
eye of a needle than for a
rich man to enter the
kingdom of God.”
Mark 10:24-25

21. Rich Christians
This is why I fear so much for the church in America. There are
some genuine and good Christians in America and there are some
good churches here that teach God’s word and live for His Glory.
But unfortunately Christianity in America is big business and the
more people you can get into your church the more money they
will give you. How do you do that? You give the people what they
want. You give them entertaining music and you tell a lot of jokes
and your message is about all the good things you’ll get if you just
let Jesus take away all the bad things. And it works. We have a lot
of big mega churches that have a lot of money.
But that’s not what the Bible teaches.

22. “No one can serve
two masters; for
either he will hate the
one and love the
other, or he will be
devoted to one and
despise the other.
You cannot serve
God and money.
Matthew 6:24

23. What does it take?
All of these people came to Jesus and wanted to follow Him, to
be His disciple and each one was turned away because they
weren’t willing to give Him their whole heart. That’s why He
rejected the rich and powerful and the wise Bible scholars and
chose fishermen and a zealot and a tax collector. Because they
were willing to give up everything. They dropped their nets and
walked away from their tax tables and followed Him. They
weren’t the smartest and they made mistakes but they were
committed. And that’s what Jesus wants from us.
So what does it take to be a disciple?

24. Enter by the narrow gate;
for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads
to destruction, and many are those who enter.
But the gate is
small and the
way is narrow
that leads to life
and few are
those who find it.
Matthew 7:13-14

25. “If anyone comes to
Me, and does
not hate his own
father and mother
and wife and
children and
brothers and sisters,
yes, and even his
own life, he cannot
be My disciple.
Luke 14:26

26. What does it take?
Wait a minute. We’re supposed to hate our families? No, of course
not. We are supposed to love even our enemies, (Matthew 5:44),
and especially our families, (Exodus 20:12). But Judaism back then,
and even today, is an honor / shame based culture. From their point
of view you must hate the family because you have dishonored
them by rejecting their religious and cultural heritage. It meant
losing the love of the people you love most as well as your work,
your freedom and often your life.
How many Christians today are willing to make that kind of sacrifice?

27. I thought we just have to believe…
“For God
so loved the
world, that
He gave His only
begotten Son,
that
whoever believes
in Him shall not
perish, but have
eternal life.
John 3:16

28. Just Believe
That’s right, just believe. The question is do we really believe? For
example, let’s say God took you on a preview visit to heaven. You got to
see God on His throne, the Tree of Life, the streets of gold and all the
Glories of God’s kingdom. You would, no doubt, come back totally
believing in all the promises given to us in the Bible and your life would be
changed forever. You would be willing to sacrifice everything and suffer
any persecution because your focus is now only on things that have
eternal value. But God doesn’t do that because He wants us to walk by
faith not by sight,(Hebrews 11:1). Faith is not just wishful thinking but is
based on the overwhelming evidence given to us in scripture. But how
many claim to believe and then work 70-80 hours a week in jobs that we
don’t even like. This is true in America but is even worse in countries like
China, Japan and Korea. Either you really believe or you don’t.

29. Whoever does not
carry his own
cross and come
after Me cannot
be My disciple.
Luke 14:27

30. The ultimate sacrifice
Everyone knew back then that if you carried your cross
you were on your way to a horrible death. And for many
Christians in the early church that is exactly what it
meant. But God doesn’t want all of us to die a martyr’s
death but He does want all of us to be living sacrifices,
(Romans 12:1). Sometimes that’s harder.

31. “I have told you these things,
so that in me
you may have peace.
In this world you will have
trouble.
But take heart!
I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33

32. And He summoned the
crowd with His disciples,
and said to them,
“If anyone wishes to come
after Me, he must deny
himself, and take up his
cross and follow Me.
Mark 8:34

33. Deny yourself
This is where it gets hard. In our natural state we are selfish, self
absorbed sinners who are consumed with what makes us feel
good or gives us what we think we need. We could avoid almost
all sin if we could only deny ourselves and act out of love for God
and other people. Jesus said If we love God and love people we
have fulfilled all the Law and the Prophets, (Matthew 22:36-40).
Even the best Christians fail at this attitude of putting others first
but a disciple will keep trying, because that’s what Jesus did,
(Philippians 2:3-8).

34. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to
eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to
drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me
in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and
you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to
Me.’.. The King will answer and say to them,
‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to
one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of
them, you did it to Me.’ Matthew 25:35-40

35. So then,
none of you
can be My
disciple
who does
not give up
everything
he owns.
Luke 14:33

36. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever
loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.
Mark 8:35

37. Would you die for Jesus?
I would say yes, absolutely. That’s easy for me to say when
someone’s not holding a gun to my head and if that time
ever came I would have to depend on God’s Spirit to see
me through. But I also think that we have to remember.
Everybody dies. Death will always be an unpleasant
experience but what is beyond the grave is something we
no longer have to fear.

38. For by grace you have
been saved through faith;
and that not of
yourselves,
it is the gift of God;
not as a result of works,
so that no one may boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9

39. Saved by Faith
Salvation by the grace of God through our faith in the finished
work of the sacrifice that Jesus made is the one thing that
separates Christianity from all other religions. It is a gift of
God that we can never earn and it is a relationship we can
never lose, (Romans 8:38-39).
Our discipleship works the same way. The more we trust
Him, as we walk through life with Him, the more He trusts us
with the work of His Kingdom. And the more we get to know
Him the more we want to serve Him out of love and gratitude.
God doesn’t owe us anything, we owe Him everything.

40. How will we
escape if we
neglect so
great a
salvation?
Hebrews 2:3

41. God’s Justice
Some day each one of us will stand before God to give an account for our lives. All of us
are guilty of violating the perfect and Holy standards of His character. His justice
demands that our sins are punished. His love desires that our sins are forgiven,
(Romans 6:23). The magnitude of what God did out of His love to satisfy His justice for
us is beyond our imagination. Even the angels give glory to the Lamb who was slain,
(Revelation 5:11-14).
So, if the Bible is true and we reject the sacrifice that Jesus made for us and instead are
willing to be judged according to our own worthiness we are saying what Jesus did for
us has no value. We can make it on our own. If the Bible is true we will be judged by His
standards not ours.
So the question has to be, “Is the Bible true?” In our next lesson we will examine the
evidence for the truth of God’s word.