True Disciples Go with God!

True disciples of Jesus Christ don’t live in hiding. They go out with God. This is a third mark of true discipleship in this series, the five marks of true discipleship. In my previous posts, I discussed the other two marks, true disciples follow Jesus Christ and true disciples wait on God in prayer.

In order to best understand the dynamics that played out in the history of the church, we should go back to the origin of it all. And this was recorded in the book of Acts, but for the sake of our post, we will focus only on chapters one and two.

In the first, Jesus asked the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for God’s promise to come to pass. In fact, He was talking about the Holy Spirit. God’s Spirit coming down on the disciples would be a game changer.

Remember that it was in Jerusalem Jesus was arrested and eventually killed. But, this is the same place, based on Acts, where He wants His disciples to go and wait for God’s promise: the Holy Spirit.

Jesus was not only speaking because He is God and all knowing. But, He spoke from the perspective that the disciples had to be at a very strategical location: Jerusalem. It was not just about the location, but also the timing.

I personally believe that businesses understand these two principles better than we, as the church, do. But, Jesus wanted the disciples to be at the right place and in the right time.

What was happening in Jerusalem, based on Acts 2, at that time?

This section of the book records events that took place during one of the Jewish festivals: feast of harvest or Shavuot in Hebrew. This is one of the three festivals all Jews had to observe. They were given to them as important events to observe by God through Moses. 

The feast of harvest, a Jewish festival, has now coincided with what we, Christians, would eventually call Pentecost today.

To go with God results from the work of the Holy Spirit

Pentecost represents God’s fulfilment of what He had promised: the Holy Spirit. The beginning of Acts 2 describes it all. In this text, the disciples have just experienced God’s presence in a new way, which we refer to as Pentecost.

Remember that at the time pentecost happened, the disciples were in hiding. They were afraid of the Jewish leaders. These are the ones who condemned Jesus, their Master, to death.

But, when the Holy Spirit came down on the disciples, they stepped out of the upper room where they hid.

God’s power in us sets us in motion. A Holy Spirit-filled life is that, which moves us from one place to the next. God’s Spirit sends us where the people are.

To go with God is not just the talk, but it is also about the walk

As the disciples come out of hiding through the power of the Holy Spirit, two things happened: a talk and a walk.

God’s Spirit gives us a talk to share with others

Out of hiding, the talk God gave the disciples was about Jesus. Based on Acts 2: 14-36, Peter shared the talk about Jesus, which represents today for us today our statement of faith. Here’s what it looks like: 

• Jesus is the Messiah. He came to earth in order to save all of us from sin.
• Jesus is not dead. He is Risen and lives forever.
• Jesus ascended into heaven and is right now seated at the right hand of God the Father.
• Jesus will come again to judge the quick and dead

God’s Spirit empowers people with a new lifestyle

Continue reading Acts 2, but this time focus on verses 37-41. There, you find what described a new lifestyle the disciples had embraced. This way of walking (living) is characterized by the following:

• Repentance. This is a complete life change that takes place in a person who chooses to follow Jesus. In other words, they give full ownership of their lives completely to Jesus Christ. They no longer live for themselves.
• Baptism. This is a visible sign of salvation, which follows repentance. It is also a sign of belonging to a community of believers.
• The gift of the Holy Spirit. God empowers the disciple to be just like Jesus Christ. Unafraid, they stepped out to let Christ’ light shine through their words, thoughts and actions. The ultimate goal, as they did so, was that other people would personally receive Jesus Christ in their lives too.

When we go with God we bear much fruit

Looking at verses 42-47, what happens is the fruit of all the above. Repentance, baptism and a Holy Spirit-filled lifestyle help us bear much fruit.

The fruit we bear as a result of the above could be described as follows:

• We devote ourselves to God’s Word and Prayer
• We live in communion with God and each other. This is done through:
  • Small groups
  • Sunday school
  • Youth groups, etc.
  • Regular worship attendance
• We partner in ministry with the needy locally and globally
• More people are saved and eventually added to our numbers of believers

Bearing much fruit becomes organic and natural when we go out with God.

Jesus, Himself, said once that we know of a good tree by the fruit it bears.

People will know we are filled with the Holy Spirit, not because of the noise that comes out of the upper room. Even if they somehow get a sense of what we’re trying to say, we have to go out.

Bearing fruit happens when we get out of our upper room. The usefulness of a tree is not just how beautiful are its leaves, but what the fruit can be used for.

It is Jesus’ hope that you and I bear much fruit. In order to get there, we all need to go with God. We need to join the talk and walk so that people,just as they did with Peter, watching us can say: “what shall we do?”