Real Disciples Won't Follow Me

Yesterday at church we heard a great message on John 1:35-37. The sermon touched on these points, and got me thinking and picturing this passage occurring in real life...

"Again the next day after, John stood, and two of his disciples; And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!
And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus."

Imagine John with his disciples who he has been investing so much time in to. They were rough fishermen, probably without a clue about living the Christian life. One of them was Simon Peter - the guy with a tendency to do and say things that got him into trouble.

Imagine him as a new convert, as you're discipling him. Peter must have been incredibly frustrating to work with at times - just when you think he's getting it, he goes and does something stupid again! In spite of his faults and impulsive ways, I think John could see his heart. Peter had a desire to know and follow God, even if his actions seemed to fumble that message at times.

In the story, John is standing here with his disciples, and he sees a distant figure walking down the road. John stands still and peers off into the distance, then exclaims, "Behold the Lamb of God!"

He must have said it in such a way that the two disciples of his looked in wonderment at the far away figure of a very ordinary looking Man and realized that this was THE Lamb!

The next minute, the two disciples that John had invested so much into were heading away to follow the other guy - the Lamb of God.

And John was happy - he had nurtured the disciples towards this - leaving him and his ideas and advice and friendship to follow Jesus. There was no "Hey, I spent a lot of time with Peter helping him become more than a dirty fisherman, and now he totally abandons me and my ministry?!"

Discipleship is not about making people dependent on me and my "help" for them - my advice, my being available to talk when they have a problem throughout life.

The essence of discipleship not creating good people that will follow me, but creating men and women with a heart looking for Jesus and running to HIM with their problems and challenges!

"If you can get a man to Jesus, he'll be okay." - Unknown