The Disciple

THE

DISCIPLE

ND Ekwegh

Copyright © 2019 by ND Ekwegh.

ISBN:                   Hardcover               978-1-5434-9271-2

                             Softcover                 978-1-5434-9270-5

                             eBook                       978-1-5434-9269-9

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Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of HYPERLINK "http://www.zondervan.com/ Zondervan. All rights reserved. [HYPERLINK http://www.biblica.com/niv/" Biblica]

Rev. date: 12/12/2018

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CONTENTS

1     Red or Blue Pill

2     Who Do You Say I Am?

3     Are You Sitting Comfortably?

4     You Do Not Want to Leave Too, Do You?

5     Smelly Feet and Dirty Hands

6     The F-word

7     Dealing with Chaff

8     Join Me on the Mountain

9     Moving Mountains

10   Carrying Crosses

11   Heal the World

12   My Precious

13   Talking Donkeys and Solitary Places

14   Drinking the Cup

15   Church Walls and Roosters

16   Plot Twists and Tombstones

17   Back to the Waters

18   Red or Blue Pill, Take 2

19   Conclusion—the Others

1

Red or Blue Pill

(Luke 5:1–11)

Have you ever felt like you weren’t good enough? Like you didn’t belong? I definitely have. Whether in sports, relationships, or work, I struggle with that feeling every now and then. And if we are honest, the same is true for most of us in different aspects of life. There is always that voice in our ears whispering, ‘You don’t belong here’ or ‘You haven’t got what it takes.’

Peter was just like us in that respect. When we first meet Peter, he isn’t the cocky, mouthy chap we find later in the Gospels. He is a vulnerable man aware of his flaws.

As recorded in the book of Luke, Jesus preached to people while sitting in Peter’s boat on the Sea of Galilee. When he finished, he turned to Peter and asked him to go out deep into the water and do some fishing. At this point, Peter must have thought, Mate, you’re a good preacher; I give you that. But you’re no fisherman.

Peter was probably in a particularly sensitive place at this time. Not only was he dealing with the depressing thought that he wasn’t good enough as a man, but in addition to that, he was probably thinking he wasn’t very good at his job either. They had worked hard all night with nothing to show for it. He made that point to Jesus, but out of respect, he decided to humour him by going. He expected no miracles at the end of it, just a blunt ‘I told you so.’

Let’s pause here for a second. Thinking about it, we sometimes respond to Jesus in the same way Peter did. His response to Jesus is one we can identify with. We think, Yes, Lord, I know you say I shouldn’t worry about anything. I know you say to have peace and to trust in your presence in my life. But Lord, you don’t get it. I have tried. I have worked hard all night. I’ve worked at that marriage, that relationship, that job; I’ve worked hard at pursuing that dream and building that ministry. But it hasn’t worked. I have worked hard on life, on being a better person, but I can’t beat that habit or that addiction. Like Peter, we want to give up. Yet we hear the voice of Jesus asking us to go again.

What if Peter hadn’t gone?

If Peter hadn’t paid attention when Jesus preached to the people, maybe he wouldn’t have gone back to try again. Something about Jesus’s message that day must have resonated with him, making him believe this man was worth giving a chance. But even at that, he could have gotten precious and allowed pride to prevent him from experiencing something really special.

The same is true for us. Sometimes we miss out on experiencing God doing something truly special in and through us either because of our pride or simply because we are not paying attention. When we stop paying attention to what God is saying to us, or when we allow pride to dictate our response to it, we hurt ourselves and the many others God intends to reach through us.

God is always reaching out to us, always making the first move. And he not only makes himself available but also makes himself vulnerable. He knows we may reject or ignore him, but he reaches out to us anyway. Even right now, God is reaching out to you. Are you listening? Are you humble?

The Bible says that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble (Proverbs 3:34; James 4:6). This is because it is impossible for God to work in and through hearts that are proud. Peter learns this truth first-hand as they sail back into the waters.

They went back where they failed and made a catch so big, their nets were not big enough to hold it. It was very much a ‘my cup runneth over’ moment. The catch was so sizeable that they needed the help of others to pull it in. How many times has God done that in our journeys? How many times has he brought success onto the set of our greatest failure?

When this happens, it feels like the scene in that Disney movie Meet the Robinsons. In the film, the young scientist Lewis has to return to the science fair, the scene of his latest failure, to receive the breakthrough moment that transforms not only his life but also the world he lives in. Lewis is initially reluctant to return; that place holds nothing but painful memories for him. But eventually he gets it. You must not be so afraid of failure that you don’t even try.

Lewis had to return to the science fair, Moses had to return to Egypt, Jacob had to return home, Peter had to return to the deep waters; and you, where do you have to go back to? Where is the place God is calling you to that you want to give up on because things haven’t gone as well as you would have hoped, because it carries painful memories of failure?

Whatever it may be, wherever it is, in faith you must go forth. What lies beyond is not something you want to miss.

Peter sees what happened, and putting two and two together, he realises this is no ordinary man standing in his presence. This is a special person. This is someone with the Spirit of God flowing through his veins. In the face of Jesus’s strength, Peter becomes very aware of his own weakness. ‘Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!’

He is certain Jesus doesn’t want to be hanging around his type. I meet a lot of people who feel that way. Even in my own journey, I feel like that every now and then. I get a strong sense that Jesus doesn’t want a man like me, that he doesn’t want someone with the flaws I have.

But that’s where we are wrong. That’s the exact someone Jesus wants to be close to. Luke revealed as much as he continued his biography on Jesus’s life: ‘By this time a lot of men and women of doubtful reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently’ (Luke 15:1).

These were the people Jesus gathered around him, people like you and me with our ‘doubtful’ reputations. And here is why he chose such, because: you can only save people who recognise they need saving, and you can only help people who recognise they need help. As Jesus stated, ‘I have not come to call the righteous, but the sinners’ (Mark 2:17).

If we start to believe we are perfect and without flaws, that we’ve got it all figured out, we find ourselves drifting into dangerous territory, a place where we tell ourselves we don’t need saving. It is dangerous because the one who doesn’t need saving doesn’t need a Saviour, and the one without need for a Saviour has no need for Jesus.

When we are in this place, following Jesus becomes problematic. Why follow someone we don’t recognise a desperate need for, especially when he’s calling us to places we’d rather not go? That sort of submission, which is the life of a disciple, only comes when we know and confess our deep and desperate need for Jesus. We place total faith and confidence in him because we recognise that without him, we are lost. That submission only comes when we are humble enough to admit we still need saving.

When, like Peter, we recognise our weaknesses, we receive God’s amazing strength. When we recognise our imperfections, by grace we are empowered with the righteousness he gives.

Jesus did not reject Peter when the young fisherman confessed his flaws. In the same way, he didn’t reject the Samaritan woman, the woman with the alabaster jar, the centurion, Zacchaeus, or anyone who came to him with their brokenness. He didn’t tell Peter to go sort himself out and then find him when he was ‘ready’. Instead, after Peter declared his unworthiness, Jesus said to him, and I’m paraphrasing here, ‘Don’t worry about it. From this point on, we are going to do great things together.’

And isn’t this what he says to us every time we come to him in humility? Whether it is the first time we have accepted him into our lives or after our one hundredth sin, the message is still the same: ‘Don’t worry about it. From this point on, we are going to do great things together.’

Jesus is always giving us a new ‘now,’ a new beginning. God declares through Isaiah, ‘Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing’ (Isaiah 43:18–19)! That message is as consistent and unchanging as our God. Forget the baggage; forget the old identity you had, the one that made you feel like you weren’t good enough, that made you feel you didn’t belong amongst the good and blessed, that had you shackled by sin and fear. Forget the former things. Don’t dwell on the past. God is doing a new thing right now. And he wants you! Yes, you!

This is where we have a choice to make. It is like that scene in The Matrix between Morpheus and Neo. In that scene, Morpheus holds a red and blue pill before Neo and makes him the following offer:

After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill—the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill—you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.

In that moment with Peter, Jesus makes the same offer. The Bible is full of people minding their own business before God steps in with an offer for them to mind his. It is an offer to put down a life that focuses on our own business and take up one that focuses on the business of God’s kingdom, to swap being the main character in our own story for a supporting role in the story God is telling.

David was looking after his sheep when God showed up and anointed him as Israel’s next king, Moses was ploughing through with a career as a shepherd when God appeared with an offer for him to lead the Israelites from Egypt. Matthew was busy collecting taxes when Jesus stepped in and asked him to come collect souls instead. Joseph was busy sleeping when God started filling his head with dreams. I could go on and on.

The Bible is full of God stepping in with a red or blue pill offer. It was the same for the people to whom he made the offer, it was the same for Peter, and it is the same for us: blue or red pill. The choice is either to give our lives to Jesus, wherever he may lead us, or hold on to our lives with its hopes and dreams for our own purposes.

Even after years of following Jesus, many of us are still sitting in front of Jesus, undecided about which pill to take. Others have taken the blue pill, having chosen to believe in something else rather than believe in him.

But our God is a gracious God, and whether you have swallowed the blue pill or are sitting there undecided, the offer remains. There is always a new now. As Jeremiah declared in Lamentations 3:22–23, ‘The steadfast love of our God never ceases; His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.’

So in this new morning, this new now, with God’s love and mercies vibrant in Christ Jesus, let me put on my Ray-Ban shades, sit in Morpheus’s chair, and make you an offer on behalf of our Lord. You can take the blue pill and close this book. The story ends, and you can carry on believing what you want to believe. Or you can take the red pill. Accept to follow Jesus on the journey of discipleship, and do great things together.

Over to you, Neo. I’d really love to show you just how deep the rabbit hole goes.

2

Who Do You Say I Am?

(Matthew 16:13–20)

People often have different perspectives about who Jesus is. He is perceived through different lenses, by non-Christians and Christians alike. I often wonder what my lens is. If Jesus asked me the same question he asked Peter, I wonder what genuine, honest answer I would give him. What would your answer be? What would be a true reflection of how you feel about Jesus?

The truth here lies in how we respond to him, because how we see him will always dictate what that response is. That was how it was for the Israelites all those years ago, and the same applies to us today. The disciples replied in verse 14, ‘Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ And we can dive even deeper into their psyches and maybe perhaps see ourselves in them.

I believe the different ways Jesus is perceived can be categorised into the following: as an entertainer, a threat, a means