Believers, Followers and Disciples. Matthew 21:1-20:34

I want to stop and reflect on a few things and summarize much of what we have learned in this section of Matthew up to this point, and talk about the underlying doctrines that are here which are related to rewards and inheritance and really fits within a broader concept of discipleship.

Discipleship is one of those words that has become quite popular in Christianity in the last fifty years, and you will hear this from a lot of people. It is interesting that this word is not used that much in the New Testament. The noun disciple most often refers to the twelve. The verb itself is only used a few times in the New Testament and yet if you listen to a lot of popular preachers and Bible teachers this is a sort of key word that shapes all Christian experience. But even though it is important as a word it is not used that often in Scripture.

But there is a lot of confusion about it. A lot of people think that the term disciple is a synonym for being a Christian, a believer in Jesus Christ. There are other aspects that are often confused with the concept of being a disciple. Discipleship and being a disciple seems to be emphasized more by Matthew than any other writer of Scripture, and I think there is a reason for that. It is found in the background for the Gospel of Matthew in that he is writing to a messianic Jewish congregation, and they had a background in Judaism where discipleship resinated. The idea of being a disciple wasn't invented by Jesus and wasn't invented in the New Testament. There was discipleship going on among the Pharisees, which was the most popular religious group within Judaism in the first century. So this was something that people were extremely familiar with and if you grew up in a Jewish background then this was a word that had great significance and meaning for you.

Among the Pharisees there were various great teachers and they would accumulate to themselves various students who would then learn Torah under them and learn the tradition of the elders, and then they would pass that on into the next generation. Part of being a good disciple if you were a Pharisee was that you grew up memorising the Scripture. That then prepared them for being a disciple within the context of Pharisaism.

I think that one of the reasons that Matthew uses this term is because of the Jewish background of his audience.

The Gospel of John is the Gospel of the four that most people associate with evangelism: that if you are going to have anybody read a book of the Bible start with the Gospel of John. John makes it clear at the end of the Gospel that “these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God”. He makes it clear that his purpose for writing the Gospel is so that people would believe that Jesus is the Messiah. More than the synoptic Gospels his focus is on moving people from not being believers to being believers in Jesus as Messiah. It is the most evangelistic of the Gospels and he uses the verb believe over 85 times. It is not used that much in the other Gospels. And this word to believe is the word that John uses to express the only condition for having eternal life. In Pauline terminology this is the only thing necessary in order to be justified—by faith alone.

In our contemporary evangelical culture when people go through evangelistic training very often use other phrases that are not biblical. They talk about inviting Jesus in to the heart; they talk about having a relation ship with Jesus, and they never talk about the one word that is so clearly expressed in Scripture, the word believe. Judas had a relationship with Jesus; he is not going to be in heaven. Having a relationship with Jesus is not the key to salvation.

There are other synonyms for faith. John 1:12 ^NASB “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, {even} to those who believe in His name.” Receiving Jesus, accepting Him as savior, are synonyms for believing; but believe is the most precise term, and it means to accept something as true—trusting in Jesus as your savior, personalising that.

John uses another word that is more often found in the Gospels and it is not a word that is related to salvation itself; it is the word to follow. But to follow Jesus in the Gospel of John is not synonymous with believing in Jesus. The aspect of following was something that Jesus said to those who were already believers.

In John chapter one we have the introduction to the Gospel of John, but we are also introduced in that chapter not only to Jesus as the eternal Word of God but also to John the Baptist. John's ministry is already in full bloom and he has around him various disciples. John 1:35 ^NASB “Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, [36] and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and said, 'Behold, the Lamb of God!' [37] The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.”

These two disciples are John, the author of this Gospel, and Andrew. They were already believers in an Old Testament sense, already Old Testament saints. That is why they had become disciples of John. They had responded to his message, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand”, and they are believers in God's promise of providing a future Messiah. Now that Messiah has come into their presence and John has identified Him and announced Him, and so they stopped being a disciple of John and are going to become disciples of Jesus Christ—not in the technical sense of the twelve (they will become that as well) but first they will become a general disciple; they are going to follow Jesus. So the term following Jesus is distinct from becoming a believer in Jesus.

That is so confusing for many people. They believe that anyone who is a believer is automatically a follower, but that does not follow. Some people can be believers and not followers, but they were followers and we see this introduced at this point. So we have John and Andrew and then Nathanael and Philip are introduced in v. 43. They are also believers already in the Old Testament sense but now they are identifying Jesus as the Messiah, and they are not only believing in Him as the promised Messiah but they are going to follow Him.

As we go through the Gospel of John Jesus does not use the term in the more restricted sense. There are two senses to follow. One is just “the crowd in following”, just talking about those who are walking after somebody else, wherever they are going. But the more technical term is that of a disciple who is listening to, responding to, and learning how to lives as his teacher is instructing him to. It is the master-disciple relationship.

Jesus talks about it again at the end of the Gospel. He was specifically speaking to Peter and He has identified the fact that some of those He is talking to will die and some will not. He says to Peter, “Follow me”. John 21:22 ^NASB “Jesus said to him, 'If I want him to remain until I come, what {is that} to you? You follow Me!' ”

The point that I am making that we get from the Gospel of John is that following Jesus is the challenge to anyone who is a believer in Jesus. It is distinct from being justified but it is the challenge to anyone who is a believer to continue to grow and mature in the Lord Jesus Christ.

We have seen that there are three ways in which the word “saved” is used in Scripture. We refer to these as phase I, phase 2, and phase 3. In phase 1, which takes place in just an instant, we believe that died on the cross for our sins. That is referred to more technically as justification at which time we are regenerate. Then in phase 2 we are growing spiritually. In phase three when we die we are absent from the body and face-to-face with the Lord.

In phase 1 we are saved from the penalty of sin. Ephesians 2:8, 9 are talking about justification, but then there are many verses that talk about being saved and they are talking about being saved from the power of sin. This is related to our spiritual growth. Then in phase three we are saved from the presence of sin as we are no longer in this body of corruption and no longer have a sin nature, and we are face-to-face with the Lord.

As we look at the Gospel of Matthew there are several things that we should observe. One is that this verb disciple [MATHETEUO] is only used four times in the New Testament—Matthew 13:52; 27:57; 28:19; Acts 14:21. Notice is it not used in Luke, Mark or John. The concept is there: teaching and training those who will follow Jesus. What we learn also is that a disciple is more than simply someone who believes. You have to believe before you can truly become a disciple. But we know of at least one use when disciple was used to describe someone who wasn't saved, and that was Judas Iscariot.

We learn that a disciple is one who is a follower of Jesus. The word AKOLOUTHEO is used 24 times in Matthew. Sometimes it is just used in the general sense of the crowds that are following after Jesus, or someone walking after somebody else; but the more technical sense that it is used in refers to the disciple who is learning from his teacher and applying that he is taught.

A disciple is challenged to live at a higher standard. We are recognizing that we have been born again but just like any newborn baby there has to be nourishment and growth in order to reach maturity, in order to really have a significant and meaningful life. Why is it then that in the spiritual life most Christians just want to stay in diapers? They don't want to grow up. But the real life that Jesus provided for us is a life that we experience as we mature and as mature believers. That is when we are usable and useful to the Lord and we can fully serve Him. So disciples are called to live to a higher standard, and that is what we find in the synoptic Gospels; they have more of an emphasis on being a follower of Jesus.

John 8:31, 32 ^NASB “So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, 'If you continue in My word, {then} you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free'.” Jesus is talking to believers and He tells them that the next step is to be a disciple and what one of the critical characteristics is, and that is to “Continue/abide in My word”. Abide is the Greek word MENO, and in the Gospel of John Jesus says a lot about that in chapter fifteen as part of the upper room discourse. There He is teaching His disciples that if they are going to bear fruit, if they are going to become productive, maturing believers, then they have to abide in Christ.

Abiding in Christ is another way of talking about fellowship or walking by the Spirit because when we look at John 15 the sole and necessary condition to produce fruit is to abide in Christ. When we get to Galatians chapter five the sole and necessary condition to bear fruit, the fruit of the Spirit (5:22, 23), it to walk by the Spirit. Jesus says that this always goes along with being in His Word. As He said in John chapter four to the woman at the well that we worship by means of the Spirit and in truth, what He is emphasizing is that the role of the Holy Spirit and walking by the Spirit goes hand-in-hand with the knowledge of the Word of God and abiding in the Word of God. So this is one of the qualifications to be a disciple.

Another aspect to the higher standard challenge to disciples was introduced in Matthew chapter four as Jesus is calling Peter and Andrew to be disciples. We look at this in the first chapter of John as we look at the chronology. Jesus came down to the Jordan and John the Baptist baptized Him. He came back the next day and John identifies Him as the Lamb of God, but this time he has two disciples with him, John and Andrew. He identifies Jesus as the Messiah and at that point they leave to follow Jesus. Then some time later Jesus is back up in Galilee (they had gone back to their fishing business) and this time He is challenging them to the next level of following Him and call them to be disciples in the more restricted sense of the term in terms of the twelve.

We see this in Matthew 4:18-22 ^NASB “Now as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. And He said to them, 'Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.' Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. Going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the {son} of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.”

That is what happened at the beginning of Jesus' public ministry as He was beginning to gather the twelve around Him and would train them to lead the church.

That is only the introduction to these concepts in Mathew chapter four, and we recently saw in chapter nineteen that when the rich young ruler came to talk to Jesus the Lord challenged him to sell everything he had and give it to the poor. This wasn't talking about salvation or justification, the rich young ruler was already justified and was really coming to find out how he could secure inheritance and position in the kingdom, which was the theme throughout all this section that we have studied from chapter eighteen on.

Chapter eighteen starts off with the disciples arguing about whom was going to be the greatest in the kingdom and Jesus said they had to become like a little child. The purpose of the illustration was that the child had no status or position in the culture at that time. What Jesus was saying is that if they were going to be a real disciple they were not going to put their focus on position and status. In the kingdom the focus is on service, not status. And that same contrast is seen in the story of the rich young ruler because the introduction to is that Jesus talks about a child again. The contrast is between the child who has no status and the rich young ruler, who in their culture has everything: he is rich and young and has power and money and is very focused on studying the Word. So he seems to be already a believer but he is still focused on himself and what he is going to be in the kingdom, like the disciples.

After that little interchange Peter says, “Okay, you told him to sell everything and to follow you; we already did that.” The difference is that the rich young ruler was told to sell everything and give it to the poor but Peter and the other disciples just left everything; they didn't sell up and give it to the poor. So that is another indication that Jesus isn't talking about the fact that you have to sell everything and give it away in order to be spiritual or be saved. That was just a problem that the rich young ruler had. His focus on status was his focus on his money and his power. When did the disciples leave all and follow Him? Matthew chapter four.

Matthew 19:28 ^NASB “And Jesus said to them, 'Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel'.”

Jesus is saying there is more to the future than simply getting into heaven. There are going to be rewards for those who follow me and are willing to leave everything in order to be a disciple. And for those disciples He is saying there will be these twelve thrones for their position in the kingdom.

And not only them: [29] “... everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life.” So what He is talking about here is not justification and getting into heaven for eternity, He is talking about the quality of life that one can experience in heaven is related to the degree to which one is a disciple in this life. This is the doctrine of understanding rewards and inheritance.

What we see here is that Jesus is really recognizing and showing that this idea that all believers have all the same things when they get to heaven isn't true. He is saying there are going to be differences in heaven between believers and that it is related to their degree of obedience, spiritual growth and service that occurred in this life. That's Matthew 19:29.

Matthew 16:24 ^NASB “Then Jesus said to His disciples, 'If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me'.”

In the context of what develops later on in Matthew 18 & 19 the disciples were not denying themselves. They were arguing about who was going to be the greatest in the kingdom. But Jesus was saying they had to take up their cross and follow Him. What we understood when we studied that was that in the Roman Empire the worst and most horrible form of punishment was crucifixion. It was reserved for those who were rebels against the authority of Rome. And in order to give a visual demonstration that they had been forced to submit to the authority of Rome they had to carry their cross to the crucifixion area. That showed that they were now under the authority of Rome.

So taking up your cross is simply an idiom for being willing to submit to the authority of God in your life in following Jesus.

Notice what Jesus says in a parallel passage in Luke chapter nine: “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” Then He adds: Luke 9:24 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.” Are you willing as a believer to lose everything, whatever you think you need to have in life, to follow Jesus? That is what is required of a disciple. It doesn't mean that you are going to lose everything. You may.

I had a man sit next to me one time at a class at Dallas Seminary who had been a missionary in India. He was soft-spoken; he was interesting. I found out that this man had been a missionary for thirty years and he lived in a room that was probably not as large as out bathrooms in this church. All he had as his worldly possessions was basically one change of clothes, a mat on which he slept, and his Bible. But he had led thousands of Indians to the Lord. He left everything in order to go on the mission field.

Luke 9:25 ^NASB “For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself? [26] For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and {the glory} of the Father and of the holy angels.”

It is not talking about salvation there; it is talking about what happens at the judgment seat of Christ.

1 John 2:28 ^NASB “Now, little children, abide in Him [grow in Him in fellowship], so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.” John is talking to believers there and is saying the same thing the Lord said in Matthew chapter nine that there are going to be those at the judgment seat of Christ who are ashamed. They will be an embarrassment to the Lord because they failed to follow Him.

Luke 14:26 ^NASB “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.” This doesn't mean to literally hate in the sense of anger your parents, your friends, or your family. Hate and love are often idioms in Scripture for acceptance and rejection. Here it means that you are not going to put your family in front and before your priorities to study the Word and to grow spiritually. If there is a conflict your focus is always I have to serve the Lord, I have to grow spiritually, I have to do what the Lord called me to do. And if that creates a problem within my family, then I'm sorry about that but I have to do what God called me to do and not what others expect of me.

Luke 14:27 ^NASB “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.” This is a much stronger statement.

Luke 14:33 ^NASB “So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.” The challenge to be a disciple is far beyond that of just being saved because discipleship involves carrying out responsibilities, being willing to give up things, willing to take on certain challenges. Where as salvation is simply to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.

Matthew 20:20 ^NASB “Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons, bowing down and making a request of Him. [21] And He said to her, 'What do you wish?' She said to Him, 'Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit one on Your right and one on Your left.' [22] But Jesus answered, 'You do not know what you are asking... [23] … He said to them, “My cup you shall drink; but to sit on My right and on {My} left, this is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by My Father'.”

When the disciples were arguing about who was going to be the greatest in the kingdom. Jesus didn't tell them to shut up, sit in the corner; everybody is going to be the same. He didn't deny the fact that some are going to be great and others not. He didn't say there were not going to be positions of honor in the kingdom; He said there would be. He said the decision was not His. That had already been established by the Father; it is His decision.

To summarize, what we see here is that there are different levels of spiritual growth. First of all, there is the person who is just regenerate. They are born again, they are going to have eternal life, they are justified, but they don't grow anywhere. They are babies in diapers and they never grow up but they are going to be in heaven.

Then we see those who grow a little bit and go through different stages of growth. They are characterized by different levels of interest. Some are curious— saved but are just a little too busy to really be involved in Bible study, spiritual growth and following the Lord.

Others are more interested but they, too, are distracted. They will show up on Sunday but getting into anything else during the week, they're too busy; not that those things they do are wrong but they get in the way of the spiritual life. We all know that there are times in our jobs, whatever they are, when we have excessive demands and that crowds out some things; but this is talking about generally in somebody's orientation to life.

Then there are others who are more convinced of the significance of Scripture and are growing, and they may grow by fits and starts and one year is better than the next year, but they are gradually moving forward. But we see that there are different stages of commitment, different levels of spirituality. Some are willing to follow the Lord a little more or a little less; other just get distracted.

For example: Matthew 8:19 ^NASB “Then a scribe came and said to Him, 'Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go'.” The Lord said: “I don't live in a house.” (“The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”) It's a bit uncomfortable, so maybe not this week.

Then another disciple: Matthew 8:21 ^NASB “Another of the disciples said to Him, 'Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father'.” People come up with excuses, so there are different levels of involvement.

What we see is that there are basically two broad categories of believers. There are those who are growing and maturing and those who aren't and never will. But among those that are growing there are different categories. There are those who have minimal growth, those who have sporadic growth, those who are low achievers, those who are moderate achievers, and those who are high achievers. What category are you?

Though all are saved through faith in Christ alone there are different levels of discipleship. And the challenge that we get from Matthew is: What level are we? Do we want to be a disciple and a follower of Jesus? Or is that just a nice thing to say and hope for but the details of life just crowd it out? Or are we willing to take up the challenge and really go forward? Because at the end of the day and at the end of our life the only thing that we take from here into heaven is our spiritual maturity, our capacity for life, our capacity for fellowship with God; and it is on that basis that we are evaluated at the judgment seat of Christ.

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