Destined for Victory

Paul Sheppard: So when we talk about being disciples of Christ, what it really is supposed to mean is that we are literally followers of Christ. We are those who listen to what he teaches, but we're also those who watch the way he lives, and we are mimics of Christ.

Guest (Male): The Christian life can be divided into two separate but equally important parts. The first is salvation, which takes place when we accept Christ. The second is sanctification or discipleship, which takes place as we follow Christ.

Hello, and welcome to Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Sheppard. Today, Pastor Paul will help you understand what it looks like to be a true disciple of Jesus. Along the way, you'll be challenged to walk as Jesus walked, to live as he lived. I hope you'll stay with us for day one of what promises to be a helpful group of messages over the next several days.

Before we get started, though, let me invite you to stop by our website, pastorpaul.net. That's where you can listen to any of our recent messages on demand, including today's. pastorpaul.net. Now, let's pay close attention to our Destined for Victory message, Neglected Areas of Discipleship.

Paul Sheppard: I want to spend some time in this message and talk to you about some neglected areas of discipleship. Fact of the matter is, when we say we are Christians, what it really means, at least what it's supposed to mean, is that we are disciples of Christ. Disciples are persons who through discipline, who through structured learning and observation and study, are influenced by a master teacher.

In Bible days, in fact in many Eastern cultures even today, to be a disciple was to really be a life apprentice, to dedicate your life to the purpose of learning a trade from a master or learning a discipline from a master. So in such cultures, it's not just as loosely structured as our educational system where you can do independent study or research on your own and you decide how much you're going to invest.

In such cultures as you find in the scriptures, when a person became a disciple or a student of a master, they would often move in with them. They would often spend a portion of their life with them because it was understood that to truly learn what is in the mind of a master, you cannot just listen to them. Listening is part of it, but you have to also observe them and observe their life.

And so it was not uncommon for students to move in with the master and, as an apprentice, to really observe not only what they said but what they did. Sometimes people can't hear what you're saying for watching what you're doing. If you really want to learn something, you need to observe as well as to hear. So that's the underpinning of this concept of being a disciple.

So when we talk about being disciples of Christ, what it really is supposed to mean is that we are literally followers of Christ. We are those who listen to what he teaches, but we're also those who watch the way he lives, and we are mimics of Christ. In fact, Paul said on a couple of occasions in his epistles, "Follow me as I follow Christ." And that word "follower," the Greek word, means to mimic. Mimic me. Watch what I do and do what I do because that's part of the learning process of a disciple.

Years ago, a couple of decades ago, I think it was when the fad hit the church of "What would Jesus do?" it was made popular by a particular wonderful book and wonderful emphasis. The whole idea was that a community really embraced the notion and the worldview of what would Jesus do in this particular situation or what would Jesus do about this particular challenge? And so we've embraced it as a worldwide church, and a lot of people say, "What would Jesus do?" Some wear a bracelet, WWJD.

It's a nice emphasis as long as you don't overdo it. I have seen people overdo it and just step the bounds. "What would Jesus drive?" We can't go there because you don't have enough information to be able to go there, but that doesn't stop some of us from going there. "What would Jesus eat?" "What would Jesus wear?" It's usually somebody with a hobbyhorse. "You shouldn't wear certain things," or "Jesus wouldn't drive an SUV, so you need a little car." Don't go there. That's divisive, it's not going to be real helpful, and you lack the information to really be able to make such a case.

But where you can, it's good to ask yourself the question, "What would Jesus do?" because indeed as followers of Christ, we want to mimic him. But the best way to answer the question "What would Jesus do?" is to answer the question "What did Jesus do?" While I like WWJD, I love WDJD. What did Jesus do?

If we would spend our time, especially when we read the Gospels, spend our time truly looking at the life and lifestyle of Jesus, as well as listening to what he taught in the pages of scripture, then we are better equipped to be true disciples, that is, followers of Jesus. In the early church, in the days of Christ, when he chose his disciples and went to them, what did he say? He said, "Follow me."

And when he said "Follow me," he didn't mean enroll in my school, enroll in my Christian college and just at your own pace and your own way, pick your own major and just kind of go there. Christian colleges and Christian education are wonderful, but my point is when Jesus chose followers, that's what they were to literally do. When he touched them and said "Follow me," he started walking, and he expected them to be behind him.

The idea is, leave your life's emphasis as it has been, and now your job is to major in me and what I want to make out of your life. And indeed, they left their lives and followed Christ. Peter reported, you remember, I believe it's in Mark 10 where the rich young ruler came to Jesus and inquired about eternal life but wasn't willing to pay the price of total surrender, so he walked away sad.

But after he walked away sad, Peter said, "Lord, we have left all to follow you." Clearly, Peter said, "We did what you said. When you asked us to follow you, we left everything in order to do it." And in the context, he was sort of inquiring, "Now, what are we going to get out of this deal? We left everything to follow you."

And of course, Jesus gave him that wonderful promise. He said, "There's no one who left father, mother, houses, lands," named a number of things. "No one left those things for my sake and the kingdom who will not receive in this life a hundredfold of those same things." In other words, Jesus is saying, "Don't worry about the return on the investment. When you follow me, I know how to take your life into the perfect will of God, and I will do through you and for you what only I can do."

And so we are to really be followers of Christ, which means we need to spend some time looking at what it means to truly follow Christ, not only listening to what he says but watching the way he lived his life. In that endeavor, I want to talk about just a few. We could spend lots of time, but in the interest of time, I want to look at just several neglected areas of discipleship, things that I think in our day and given our lifestyle, we don't pay enough attention to as it relates to being like Christ.

Here's the first one. If you want to truly be a follower of Christ, it's going to involve developing an authentic prayer life. An authentic prayer life. Jesus said in Luke chapter five, or the Gospels say, in Luke chapter five verse 16, "But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed." But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

I want to suggest one of the neglected areas of discipleship in our day is the matter of prayer. Now, a lot of us hear about prayer as sort of a religious ritual or a routine, something you're supposed to do as a Christian. I want to suggest that you shouldn't bother trying to develop a prayer life because it's the religious thing to do.

I want to suggest to you that if Jesus, who was all God and all man wrapped up in one body—he was the Logos, the God-man, he was the manifestation of God himself and yet he took on the form of flesh so that he was deity and humanity in one body—and if Jesus had to pray often, what about you and me?

People who are not God and man, we're just man, you know, humanity, man, woman, male, female, boy, girl, we are just humanity. No deity at all. Keep your theology straight. You are not becoming a god. Hopefully, you're becoming more like Christ in the way you live your life, but you're not graduating to deity now. And at your best, you're going to desperately need God to be who he is in your life.

And so if Jesus, the God-man, needed to pray often in a life that was 33 years long—Jesus only lived to 33 on earth, I'm talking about—he lived 33 years. His ministry was only three years long. He spent 30 years preparing for a three-year ministry which culminated, of course, in his crucifixion, the reason for which he came into the earth, and his resurrection. And ultimately, after showing himself alive over a course of some 40 days after his resurrection, he ascended back to the Father.

The whole thing start to finish, Jesus accomplished the will of God and changed life on earth for all humanity forever. It only took him 33 years. That tells you, by the way, just a little sidebar, that life really isn't about quantity but quality. A lot of us are worried about how long we can live and, you know, "I'm just trying to stay here a long time." Well, that's great if you aspire to be one of those folks. I got a friend who says, "I'm going to live 120 years." All right, cool. Go for it.

But make sure whatever years you spend on earth are years of quality living because there are a lot of people who didn't live a long time on earth but they lived a quality life on earth. And I think that's what Jesus models for us: a life that counts, a life that matters, a life that accomplishes the will of God and touches others for good.

In his desire to do that, the Bible says he often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. So I want to suggest that you develop an authentic prayer life not because it's the religious thing to do, but because if Jesus needed to pray, how much more do you? The job where you work, the family that you have, the neighborhood where you live, the financial, economic picture that surrounds you. With all of the things you face, with the decisions you have to make in your life, with the children you have, the grandchildren you have, the relatives you have.

Mooki and them calling you every now and then with their latest drama. With the life you have to deal with, how much more do you and I need to have an authentic prayer life? By "authentic," I mean it's not plastic, it's not formal. It's not to impress people. It's not so folks will think we're spiritual. "Well, I get up with my Bible and I go to my place and I pray." No, no, no. Well, that's fine, but it's really not about whether folks know I have a prayer life. It's whether I know and God knows I have a prayer life.

Because in this world, if Jesus needed prayer, you and I don't stand a chance of living a quality life, of doing the will of God, of not making really horrible decisions, of not hating people, of not going postal even when you don't work at the post office. Come on, somebody. Sometimes if you don't have Jesus, you will flip out. I know you saved, got your Bible. I see your Bible. I'm not impressed. I know that unless you tap into the power of God sometimes, people better stay out of your way.

Because you and I, in our flesh, we don't have the power to respond properly to the challenges we face. That's just the way it is. It's got nothing to do with how long you've been saved. It has to do with the fact that we don't have an internal, that is, a human-based power source. You and I live our lives with a batteries-not-included reality. Batteries are not included. There's no built-in power pack. God, by the power of his Spirit, has to give us the power to live life the way he's called us to live it.

And in order to tap into that power, we need to pray. We need to pray. We need to pray regularly. You ever run out of power just when you need it? You ever have a power failure at the wrong time? You ever have one of those Peter moments? Peter was bragging, "Jesus, I'm going to be with you no matter what." Jesus said, "Man, before tomorrow morning, before the sun is high in the sky, you will have denied me three times."

And you know Peter thought Jesus was tripping, but sure enough, when Jesus was betrayed and the army's coming down on him, and it's clear that this is not going to go well for Jesus or anyone who was following him, a little girl saw Peter warming by a fire that night and she said, "That's one of his followers." And the Bible says he denied him three times. In fact, on one of those, he swore. You can cuss unless you prayed up.

Let me tell you something, it's not fun to have a power failure just when you need it. You ever been in your car and your car just conk out? You think it's something wrong with the vehicle? No, no, no. You didn't supply it with the energy, with the fuel it needed to operate.

I'll never forget years ago, my early days in California, I was driving my car—we were living in Fremont at the time—I was driving my car down the street and it was a car that didn't have, you know, a lot of times now these cars will notify you, there'll be a bell or a red light or something come on, it'll say go get gas, something, you know. But this was a car that did none of that.

And I was just driving, just going about my business, and hadn't thought about gas, and I happened to look down and I saw that the needle was on the other side of E. You ever been on the other side of E? The wrong side of E. And I panicked because I was nowhere near my house, and I thought, "Where is the nearest gas station?" And I thought about a gas station there on Mowry Avenue, and I was probably a couple of miles away at the time I saw it.

"Alright, let me get over there. Oh my goodness," and I started panicking. "What can I do? I can't have, I can't have this car shut down on me." And so I turned the air conditioning off. I said, "That'll drain a little gas," and, you know, rolled the windows down, just let the wind blow in on me, and no, can't be cute, no air. I'm trying to get to the gas station. And then I think I remember turning the radio down. That didn't have anything to do with gas, but I was just panicking, just just oh my goodness, help me, Lord.

And I started driving real slow because I knew if you get to a light and it turns green and you step on the gas, you know, that sucks a lot of gas. So, you know, I remember you're supposed to ease, and so I'm driving like a little old lady and what have you, and folks just whipping around me, looking at me like, "What's his problem?" But I'm trying, I'm low on energy.

And so I'm creeping, and finally I get within a couple of blocks and I say, "Oh great, woo, I made it. I'm so glad." And I got to the intersection, the gas station was over on the left, but I had to cross, I had to make a left turn. It was a dedicated left turn lane, and I got into that lane and I was so grateful. Gas station right there, I'm looking right at the pump. I think I have made it.

And the car shut off. And I tried to start it, and you know how it goes, just 'yuh yuh yuh yuh yuh.' I said, "No, this can't be happening. No, no." The arrow, green arrow came on. People behind me, I'm the first car in the left lane. People behind me blowing their horns. I got out. I said, "Why don't y'all just go on around me?"

You know when you have a power failure, you get mad. Just just mad. "Why're y'all, y'all see, if I could turn, I would turn." And so finally they can't get around me because there's other cars in the other lanes waiting for the regular green so they can go straight. And so they're back behind me mad, and I'm embarrassed and what have you.

And then I got to try, none of them offering to help. All they want to do is blow, mind you. And so I'm trying to figure out what in the world I'm going to do. Finally, there was a man over on the corner walking by the gas station. He said, "You need some help?" I said, "Yes, please, come help me." He walked over and we're pushing, and you know, you got to try to figure out how to turn without the thing. Oh, it was a mess.

And of course, we had to cut in front of all this traffic going in the opposite direction. He's out waving them off, "Way, hold on." Oh, that close to the power. But unless you get to the tank and make a withdrawal, there's no power available for you. You ever had that happen in your life? God is available, but until we realize we must pray and tap into his power and say, "Lord, I can't make it today without you. I can't go on that job without you. I can't deal with my family without you. I can't deal with this crisis without you."

And so Jesus often withdrew to lonely places. Nobody had to tell him, "Well, you know, it's your prayer time." No, no, he understood that he had to tap into the power that came from on high. And you and I need to make up in our minds we are going to be people of prayer. It's not a religious formality, it is a necessity. If I'm going to live a life of quality, I must talk to God.

It says he would withdraw to lonely places, meaning some of my prayer needs to be where no one is around. Some of the times I need to talk to God intentionally to get away from others. Why? Because there are going to be some things I need to say to God no one needs to overhear me. Sometimes the folks around me are part of what I have to pray about. I don't need y'all listening in. This is an A and B conversation, so I need to take it somewhere where no one is going to hear me.

Guest (Male): Prayer moves mountains. As we exalt our Heavenly Father in prayer and lift up the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we ourselves are exalted by the power of his Holy Spirit. It's through these moments of quiet reflection that God molds us into the image of his Son and strengthens us for the journey ahead.

Now, let me ask you, have you ever tried your best to be a blessing to the people around you, only to go unnoticed or underappreciated? We find just that kind of story in the Gospel of Luke. Martha is busy making preparations for her guests, but Mary, instead of lending a helping hand to her sister, chooses instead to spend time with Jesus.

In our latest booklet, "When Humans Attack," Pastor Paul takes an honest look at this story to show us how unmet or unrealistic expectations can cause conflict. He also shows us the difference between distraction and devotion. That's "When Humans Attack," our thank-you gift this month for your generous donation to the Destined for Victory media ministry. You can give by phone by calling 855-339-5500. That's 855-339-5500. Or visit pastorpaul.net to make a safe and secure donation online. You can also mail your gift to Destined for Victory, Post Office Box 1767, Fremont, California 94538.

One of the other things that really is a trait of following Jesus that doesn't get a lot of press or a lot of attention is: Jesus cultivated a personal support system for his life. Jesus knew that in order to do the will of God, he had to build a support system. He had to have a sort of infrastructure that supported his life in the will of God. And that's next time in our continuing message, Neglected Areas of Discipleship. Until then, remember, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.