Think of a circle, and then think of a ball. One is two-dimensional, and one is three-dimensional. From a distance, they look the same. But the closer you look, the more you notice a difference. One is flat and the other is, well, not flat. You can play basketball with a basketball. You can’t play basketball with a piece of paper.
Discipleship is 3D, not 2D. It includes listening and learning, but goes beyond it to doing, to actually following. As Howard Hendricks says: “Biblically speaking, to hear and not to do is not to hear at all.”
That’s what this sermon on John 1:35-51 explores as a part of our journey through the Gospel of John. I take us through the text and ponder one of the key insights it gives us about discipleship. We might naturally conclude that confidence about who Jesus is results in more faithfulness and obedience, but might miss that the opposite is also true. Obedience increases confidence. In fact, confidence and obedience are mutual accelerants.
The YouTube video version is below, as is the audio-only download. Beneath is the extra background content as a part of The Pulse Podcast.
YouTube:
Audio-only download:
As mentioned, you can access the extra “growing deeper” background content as a part of The Pulse Podcast with Matthew Ruttan by going here (or by finding it wherever you subscribe to podcasts — iTunes (Apple Podcasts), Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or TuneIn). It’s called “Follow me: Jesus enlists disciples.”
Subscribe wherever you enjoy podcasts:
MatthewRuttan.com 