This is a class I taught at Community Bible Church in Nashville called The Challenges of Discipleship. To hear the audio, simply click on the play button. You can also download the mp3 file if you prefer. Most of the lessons also have a PDF file containing the class handout. Please let me know if you have any problems listening to these files.
Lesson 1 – Introduction – Part 1
This lesson compares two responses Jesus got when he said, “Follow me.” The first is from Archie (Archie’s the name we gave the “rich young ruler” so we wouldn’t have to say “rich young ruler” every time we referred to him). The second is from Peter, Andrew, James, and John. We also draw some observations about the nature of discipleship from the comparison.
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Lesson 2 – Introduction – Part 2
Here we provide a quick review of several of the things Jesus does for those who follow him. The second part of the lesson is an overview of where the rest of the class is headed, the seven challenges of discipleship.
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Lesson 3 – Love God Most
The thing you love the most becomes your source of security, direction, perspective, and motivation. Nothing is more important than having the right thing as one’s most-loved thing. And that is exactly the place Jesus insists he must occupy in the lives of those who follow him.
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Lesson 4 – Abide in God’s Word – Part 1“If you abide in my word,” Jesus said, “you are my true disciples.” Following Jesus involves adopting a frame of mind that is grounded in scripture. Learning to think correctly and see things as they truly are depends on making the Bible one’s epistemological house.
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Lesson 5 – Abide in God’s Word – Part 2
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Lesson 6 – Deny Yourself
“To thine own self be true.” This Shakespearean proverb has become the motto of our pluralistic age. “Just be yourself,” is common advice. But Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself…” We must learn to say no to ourselves if we are to fully embrace our new life in Christ.
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Lesson 7 – Take Up Your Cross
Jesus insists that his disciples must adopt a mission in life that imitates his. “If anyone wishes to come after me,” he says, “he must deny himself, and take up his cross…” Will we take on a life of sacrifice for the sake of others?
Here’s a link to my short paper on Luther’s Theology of the Cross.
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Lesson 8 – Follow Him – Part 1
Jesus promises a new sort of life to those who will follow him, those who will go with him to learn his ways from him. To follow Jesus is to enter into a life of personal engagement, of instructed imitation. The road of life for a true disciple is entirely determined by where Jesus is and what Jesus does.
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Lesson 9 – Follow Him – Part 2
Because of his physical presence with them, following Jesus was a relatively simple matter for his first disciples. In this lesson, we attempt to address the question, how does one follow him in his absence?
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Lesson 10 – Some Q & A on General Revelation
Some questions from the class: If we make the Bible our epistemological house, does that mean it is the only resource we should use to learn about God, ourselves, our relationship to God, and our relationship to others? Can we trust “truth” we come to know by other means?
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Lesson 11 – Give Up All Your Possessions
This is perhaps the most troublesome of Jesus’ challenges to those who would be his disciples. Peter once said to the Lord, “We have left everything and followed you.” Is this still required? And if so, how do we go about it?
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Lesson 12 – Love One Another
Jesus taught that the identifying mark of those who followed him would be their love for one another. His own way of life, and especially his death for our redemption, was to serve as the model.
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Lesson 13 – Passion, Privilege, and Purpose
There’s little doubt that these things Jesus required from those who would follow him seem challenging or impossible or maybe even crazy. But not if we understand the true value of knowing God in Christ, which IS eternal life.
