Subis Teachers Called to Be a Disciple of Jesus

19th June, 2013

John 15:1-18; Galatians 5:22-26

Main Idea: Be a disciple of Jesus

Objective: To challenge the Christian teachers to respond to the calling to bear the fruit of the Spirit and become a disciple of Jesus.

A. Introduction

- All the teachers, are you proud that you are a teacher? Do you feel called by Jesus to be teachers? That means do you believe that Jesus put you in the present profession. Or, you just regard the present job as some making a living. You need a salary, so you become a teacher.

- In Jesus’ teaching, first and foremost, He called Christians to be His disciples.

- The gospel of John has this very clear mandate in the mind of the author.

B. Mandate of the Gospel of John Writer

- The gospel writer portrayed Jesus as a radical savior who desired to bring His disciples before God as born again persons. In John 3, when Jesus was asked by a Pharisee, Nicodemus, on how to enter the kingdom of God, He answered that unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. (3:4 Yesus menjawab, ‘Percayalah, tidak seorang pun dapat menikmati pemerintahan Allah kecuali dia dilahirkan semula.’)

- You can see that Jesus challenged the Pharisees and Sadducees in the background whom He addressed to make a stand and convert to Him, the Messiah, sent by God. They need to be born again if they want to see the kingdom of God. They were challenged to follow Him as His disciples. They could not be Pharisees and Sadducees anymore. They need to accept Jesus as savior and follow Him as His disciples.

- That is why Jesus taught passage like John 15:1-8, where He emphasized in verse 5, ‘I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit, apart from me you can do nothing.’ ‘Akulah pokok anggur dan kamu carang-carangnya. Sesiapa yang tetap bersatu dengan Aku. Carang sendiri tidak dapat berbuah, kecuali tetap pada pokoknya. Demikian juga kamu;kamu hanya dapat berbuah, jika kamu tetap bersatu dengan Aku.’

- How can you remain in Christ so that you can bear the fruit? Jesus’ answer is found in verse 7, where we remain in His word, and verse 3, Jesus said, ‘You are clean because of the word I have spoken to you.’

- The word of God that becomes part of our life is so crucial for fruit bearing. How can God’s word make you clean? It is when you obey God to live a holy life.

- Jesus justified Himself to be worth our obedience because He is our saviour who laid down His life for us; He is the redemption for our sin.

C. Application: Called to be disciples of Jesus

- When you obey God in bearing fruit, in verse 8, you prove yourself to be a disciple of Jesus. It says, ‘...you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.’ See how Jesus called his followers, audience and people whom He was in contact to be His disciples.

- Are you all teachers Jesus’ disciples? Are you following Jesus in bearing fruit? It is the fruit that you bear that proved that you are Jesus’ disciples. What fruit you need to bear. Jesus did not make it so clear as to what should be the fruit. Based the gospel of John, you can expect that Jesus wants ourselves to be born again.

- You see how He helped a Samaritan woman with five husbands to be born again by teaching her worshipping in spirit and truth. Lives must be transformed in the kingdom of God. As Jesus’ disciples, our lives must be born again or we must help others to be born again. This is part of the fruit we have to bear. Are we into it?

- Apostle Paul in Galatians 5:22-26 had pointed the kind of fruit we need to bear. If you and I are born again, the Holy Spirit who dwells inside us causes us to bear the fruit of the Spirit like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Mereka saling mengasihi, bersukacita, hidup rukun, sabar, berbudi, baik hati,setia, rendah hati dan dapat mengawal diri.)

- Apostle Paul emphasized in verse 24 that ‘Those who belongs to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.’ ‘Demikianlah, orang yang menjadi milik Kristus Yesus sudah mematikan tabiat manusia dengan segala nafsu dan keinginannya.’

- When you are empowered by the Holy Spirit, you are powerful for Christ, you are like Christ, you display those godliness, holiness in your life, fruit of the Holy Spirit. As teachers, can you bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit? You can according to the teaching of Jesus, if you remain in Him, remain in His word. Remembering and obeying His word, this is the secret of bearing the fruit of the Spirit.

- Many Christians do not know this secret. They thought by obeying Christ, they are restricted in freedom, and they lose freedom in life. It is exactly the opposite.

- As teachers your empowerment is coming from obeying Jesus to be His disciples, once you are sure of this, you have the power needed to empower your students to be born again.

- It can happen through your teaching in school where your students love to learn from you as you are filled by the Holy Spirit to teach so that they learn very much.

- When you stand up in the power of the Holy Spirit to be righteous, your students can feel it and you transform their lives. They are so attracted to your righteousness because of God who is behind your life.

- So, now, is your life, your performance in school consistent with the word of God. If so, your students will be transformed by your life. They will be bearing the fruit of the Holy Spirit like you.

D. Conclusion

- Failure to respond to Jesus’s call to be His disciples, we will end up as the branches thrown into the fire by Jesus, meaning, we have nothing to do with Jesus.

- Remaining in Jesus means we become His disciples to bear His fruit.

By Rev Law Hui Seng (20th June, 2013)

Posted By Teresa Han