Covered by the Dust

All right, so here we are. In Matthew 4, verse number 18 through 22, Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon, called Peter and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. Then he said to them, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. They immediately left their nets and followed him. Isn't that powerful?

They immediately left their nets and followed him. Now, we don't know if they had heard of who Jesus was. There's some evidence they probably did. But at this stage, Jesus really wasn't too well known. But nevertheless, when he called them, they left everything to follow him.

And we'll dive into that today what that actually meant and what that looked like. Then it says, going on from there. He saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother. And they were in the boat with Zebedee, their father, mending their nets. He called them also.

And immediately they left the boat and their father. Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. So they left their career, they left their family, and they followed Jesus. Whoa, that's high cost. That's paying the price, isn't it, to follow Jesus.

What a powerful narrative and a story that we're going to land that in our culture today. How does that speak to us? What's the application look like? But more importantly, we have to go back to those days. So you guys know we have sent college.

Some of you may not college. We were just approved two days ago to offer degrees, and we're able to do that now. Yeah, we were doing it previously through an affiliation, but we can do it ourselves now. And I'm telling you that this is something that God's breathing on. People are hearing about this and they're leaning in, and we're going to be doing even more and more.

But I want to encourage you, if you really want to get a strong grasp of the word of God, which will transform your life, consider enrolling and be part of it. Our next unit study is on the 23rd of April, Thursday night, just one night a week. And if you want to study for qualification, it's very affordable. If you just want to jump on and just learn, just do something financially, right? Because when you value something, you actually invest in it, what you value.

So just do something, jump in, be part of it. And if it's $5, fine. If it's a million dollars, that's all right, you'll help sponsor a few other people. But just be part of it and invest in yourself. Invest in your development, go deeper.

It'll change your life, I promise you. And I'm saying that as a Talmud myself. Do you know what a Talmud is? Right. That's a disciple in the Hebrew context.

So we'll look at that now. Now, let's talk today about what I'm going to call. This is really about the dust of the rabbi. The dust of the rabbi. And you'll understand what I mean by that.

Okay, so what we're. I want you to just think for a moment. If you've been saved for more than five years, would you just wave at me? If you've known Jesus for more than five years. Right.

So that's. That's great, but what does that say about us today?

Well, we've saved more than five years. Great. But where's everyone else that. Don't we have any spiritual children? We need to have kids.

We need to be bringing people into the kingdom because we're not just called to be disciples. We're called to make disciples. There's a big difference. So the. The Great Commission actually is a single Greek word, mathetes.

And mathetes is literally in the imperative tense, and it means disciple. A single word. To us, we could translate it this way. Make disciples. As you go about your daily business, as you go in life and all that you're doing, make disciples.

And how do you do that? You baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and you teach them to obey everything Jesus commanded. It's very basic. That's what we're called to do. That's the Great Commission.

That's keeping the main thing the main thing. So the main thing Stephen Covey said, is to make the main thing or keep the main thing, the main thing. So what do we focus on in our lives in many times? Are we really focusing on becoming a disciple, growing in Christ likeness and also making disciples? If we have any other primary emphases, then we're falling short of what God says is of utmost importance.

So it's always a journey that we're on. We never arrive. We grow as we go. God works in our life through us. It doesn't matter if you've been saved for a week.

Guess what? You have a testimony. And a lot of times the person who's just been saved, their testimony is more convincing and definitely more passionate than a lot of times people that have been in church for years. Not that it should be that way. Right.

We shouldn't lose our first love. We should continue to Just burn with passion for Jesus more and more, but all too often that's not the case. So it's very important that we recognize this isn't about coming to church on a Sunday or any other time. This isn't the main reason for our salvation as followers of Jesus Christ. I was saved so I can go to a gathering with other believers.

No, you go to the gathering. It's really important. The Bible says, don't forsake the assembling together of yourselves. Some are in the habit of doing, and there's many in the habit of doing that today. But the fact is, we also have to recognize that there's an individual responsibility.

It says in 2 Peter 3:18, Grow. Just look at your neighbor and slap. No, don't slap them in the head and say, grow. You know what? Make it.

Just make it a little bit more jarring. Grow up. Look at your neighbor and say, grow up. Will you grow up?

We say that to our kids, right? But the Bible says, grow up. You would grow up into Christ who is the head, and we would grow up into him who is the head. And you've heard me say it, probably. Just because you're showing up doesn't mean you're growing up.

You can be a pew warmer, a chair warmer, whatever. And yeah, we have a responsibility to make sure he says this. Grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Grow in both grace and knowledge. Think about it.

What is grace? Grace is what transforms us. Grace is what changes us. How are you growing in Christ likeness? Becoming more like him?

Changing your life, your character, your conduct? You're just a nice, godly, holy, righteous, selfless person who just radiates the anointing and the presence and the life and love of Jesus. Wherever you go, grow in grace, but also grow in knowledge. Jesus, I want to know more about you. I want to know you more intimately.

I just did a podcast on five different levels of knowing God. And without unpacking that, let me just say this. There's actually a place that we can grow into where we know God more. We know him more intimately, more personally. And it changes us, but it also changes those whom we come in contact with.

So grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said after he preached the Gospel In John 8, he said this. If you continue in my word, you'll be my disciples and you'll know the truth, and the truth will set you free. The truth will make you free. He said that to those who had believed in him is what it says in verse 30 of John chapter 8 to those who believed in him.

He said, if, if, that's a big small word, if you continue, you will move from believer to disciple and you will know the truth experientially, personally, not just intellectually. And the truth will transform you, it will change you, it will set you free. We've been teaching on the fact that we are. Our spirit has been made, the spirit of just men made perfect, the Bible says. But we've been on this teaching series that we've concluded all about the soul character changing, becoming more like Jesus and manifesting Christ likeness in all our ways.

And so this is the call that we are summoned by Jesus, just as these first century men were fishermen in particular were to follow him, to be his disciples. The Hebrew word is talmid. In the singular, it's talmidim. In the plural, we're called to be talmidim. It's a powerful word and we're going to give some context to that.

But, but before we do, I just want to encourage you, just for a moment, think about a person who's had the greatest impact on your life. Are you doing. Just do that. A person who's had the greatest impact on your life spiritually as a Christian, you might be able to say there's two, there's three people that come to mind. It's all right, just select someone.

Most likely that person is someone that you did life with, you were up close and personal with them. See, it's not necessarily the greatest preacher, it's not necessarily the YouTube videos or the podcast that you listen to, but it's a person who actually their life got on you. And it could have been that you witnessed them, how they lived, how they handled pressure, disappointment, how they interacted with people, how they managed their finances, their marriage. And you watched them closely and you could see Jesus, the character and the person of Jesus shining forth through them. That's what discipleship is all about.

It's personal, it's face to face, it's done relationally. And to say in our context, as we often do, and we really in so many places don't even understand discipleship, we think it's go read this book, come back and we'll discuss something and that can help you. There's nothing wrong with that. Read books, listen to podcasts. Absolutely.

But there has to be that personal connection. Because the reality is we have to recognize that formation, spiritual formation, transformation is not a download, it's an exposure.

It requires proximity, relationship.

Many people today don't want that. I'm talking about even people who. Yes, of course. People who don't know Jesus. They're in pain, they're hurting, they're broken.

We get that Jesus wants to heal them. But I can tell you this, that the antidote for a church. Let's say you've been hurt in church, you've been wounded by Christians. Can I be honest and say it's nothing unusual. It's sad, and we apologize for anyone who's ever done that to you, especially a leader.

But on the other hand, I can tell you this. You will in the world. You will be offended in the world. Things will happen. It's part of life, guys.

So the answer to a church environment that wasn't super healthy isn't no church environment.

That's what the enemy wants. Just withdraw, disconnect. Don't be around other believers. You're good. Just me and Jesus.

That runs against the grain of everything Jesus taught himself. In fact, I'm currently, I'm very tempted to preach a series of sermons on. On sacred cows in the church right now and how we need to grind them into mince because there's so many foolishness being taught right now in so many places by leaders. Like some of the stuff. I just wrote a blog post on my substack called Stop Blaming Constantine because he gets blamed for the institutionalization of the church.

It's not true. The church was already on track and was already being institutionalized before Constantine actually legalized Christianity. It wasn't until 75 years later that it became the state religion. So most people that say that have no idea. They don't even know history.

So the fact is, guys, there's a lot of stuff that we've been taught and what we embrace, and we need to bring it under the microscope of the word of God. What does the Bible actually say about this stuff? Okay. It's really important that we bring it to the light of his word. So what we're called to do is to go and enter into community, family, be part of something.

It's easier not to. Can I just say that? I just did. It's easier not to, right? Like, I get along much better with me than I do with you.

Like, it's not always easy. There are days when it's rough, me and me. But I can tell you that there's times when. And I'm sure the same is for you as well. You get along with yourself better than me and others.

But how do we grow friction? How do we grow. Yeah, Iron sharpens iron. How do we grow? We have to be challenged.

And there are things about others that we maybe don't like. And then there's others who love us and speak into our lives as well. All of these things ultimately God can use to bring formation to our life. But when you find someone who really loves you and cares for you and wants to see you grow and become like Jesus, don't run from that. Embrace it.

Embrace it. Because the reality is that's how you change.

It's getting comfortable. The heat. Yeah, stay in the fire. Stay in the heat. Submit yourself.

When you're being challenged, when you're being stretched, even if you go, oh, that hurts, Say, yes, Jesus. Thank you. Change me, convict me. David said, let a righteous man strike me.

He said, I'd rather receive a blow from a righteous person that corrects me then have fellowship with fools. Are we willing to change? Are we willing to become like Jesus? That's the call. We're not called just to be consumers, but we're called to move into a place where proximity shapes us.

What we need is not better. Content. We've got so much content, don't we? So much content. You can listen to anything anywhere today.

I mean, when the Internet came out, it was like, wow, there's nothing that we don't know. People literally said that we can find out anything. And now it's scary, crazy with AI, with what's happening. And you can just go, hey, teach me this. How to.

What I learn about this. Well, but it can't change you. It won't change you. It won't change your heart, it won't transform you internally. And ultimately, what we need is an encounter with the rabbi.

We need to move into a place where we understand discipleship not as something we do in the 20th, 21st century. This is how we disciple people. But the rabbinical process, because Jesus was a rabbi and Jesus did some things that were absolutely countercultural to his day. You know, when you were a boy in that culture in Israel, at age 5, you were in school, which was a synagogue based school. It was called Beit Safer and Beitzefer literally was the basic level of schooling.

Do you know that you only read the Torah, the scriptures, you didn't read any other book. That was it. In fact, the rabbis and the teachers would actually have you, starting at age five, memorize the Torah, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, the Torah, memorize it. They started at age five and the teachers would put the Hebrew letters on like a board and they would write them with honey. And then they'd say to the students, taste how good the word of God is.

And the students would lick the words. That's where many of our writings come from, right? Your words are like honey. It comes from that custom and that tradition. That's how they learned.

And so when they became age 10, they graduated into what's known as Beit Talmud and Bey Talmud was the next level. Beit Talmud was. Now you master the Hebrew scriptures and the great traditions of argument. Ten years old, they could argue. They had to argue with rabbis, with scholars.

10 years of age, learn how to refute, learn how to critique, push back, give different viewpoints at the age of 10 and after that time, when you turn 13, which would be equivalent to. They didn't have what they call. What we call today, Bar mitzvah. They didn't have that in that day. It wasn't until years later.

But the equivalent there was something equivalent. So around the age of 13 or so, what would happen is education was pretty much done. Okay, so here you had. There were three different groups. The first group was like, yeah, you're a good kid.

You've done well. Now go home and learn a trade. Most that had gone through synagogue education. That's what happened. There was another group.

They were definitely more hungry. They were leaning in more. And they would go and study for a longer time, but they would also end up typically going back and just working in the family business. But there was another group, very few. They were the elite.

And these ones were actually commended and set apart as those who had the potential to become a town meet. They were the cream of the crop. They were the smartest, the most brilliant, the most studious. And they actually would approach a rabbi that they felt they emulated and respected the most. They would search out for that rabbi, and they would approach that rabbi, and they would argue and promote themselves that they were worthy to come under the tutelage of that rabbi.

And the rabbi tested them. He tested them to see if they had what it would take to actually become his talmite. So he would say things to them to offend them purposefully. He would argue. He would say, no, you're not smart enough.

You're not good enough. You're not serious enough. You just want my platform to promote yourself. Ooh, I don't think so.

There would be a test. Testing what? When a rabbi said, yes, come and follow me, what convinced him that student, that disciple was worthy was this one thing.

They have what it takes to become like me.

They have what it takes to Become like me.

What does that mean? It wasn't, they're smart, they're educated, they're diligent. No, it wasn't that. It had to do with character. It had to do with competency, diligence.

They have what it takes to be like me. So at that point, what would take place is the rabbi would extend an invitation. And the invitation was simply.

In Hebrew, which means this. Ready, follow in my footsteps. There was a saying, and it actually. If you read the Talmud, it actually became. It became a blessing.

A blessing. And the blessing essentially was, may you be covered in the dust of your rabbi.

May you be covered in. In the dust of your rabbi. In those days, obviously, there weren't paved roads. The roads were dusty some parts of the year. When it was rainy, it was obviously mud.

But they would walk so closely to the rabbi that they would. The dust of the rabbi would fall on them. They'd be coated with the dust of the rabbi. And you could tell, not only is this a physical reality, but it's a metaphoric reality. You could tell if someone was really committed and devoted to following a rabbi was whether or not they had dust on them.

Because if they followed from afar, no. If they stood to the side, no. But they had to literally follow in their footsteps. So the calling is not simply to come and learn doctrine, theology, but the calling was ultimately this, to attach yourself to a rabbi. And when you attach yourself to the rabbi, what takes place is you actually are committed and devoted to learn everything about that rabbi and also to become just like that rabbi.

So we see examples in Scripture where they would. They would. In history. Sorry. Where they would say, it's easy to tell that this Talmud or this Talmidim are disciples of Hillel.

Disciples, Disciples of Shammael. They could tell based on what they called the yoke. And the yoke is this. You know, when Jesus said, take my yoke upon you, he was actually not referring to, as we think today, in the sense of, well, it just means, you know, I won't burden you. My yoke is easy and so on, and my burden is light.

No. In comparison to the law and all the commands and demands that the Pharisees put on people. And they wouldn't even lift up a finger to help carry that load. Absolutely. But Jesus, his demands were even more onerous.

As I say unto you, if you hate your brother in your heart, you commit murder. In your heart, I say unto you, you may not have committed adultery, but if you look lustfully, commit adultery in your heart, stronger, more Demanding not just the behavior, but the heart behind it. Jesus wasn't meaning that when he said, take my yoke upon you. What he was actually saying is the understanding of that time was the rabbi had a yoke. The yoke was simply this.

What's Hillel's yoke? Well, Hillel believes this, he teaches this, he lives this way, he talks this way, he walks this way. And so when you would take on a yoke of a rabbi, you were saying, I am committed to learn what you believe. I am committed to talk like you, to walk like you, to live like you, to. To become like you in every way.

Whoa. Western culture has a problem with that. I don't follow, man. I follow Jesus.

Paul said, imitate me as I imitate Christ. The Greek means mimic. Mimic me as I mimic Christ. Paul said, the things you've seen, you've heard from me. He said, imitate, emulate.

Copy the things that you've seen and heard me say, and the God of peace will be with you. Whoa.

I don't follow, man. I follow Jesus. Well, who do you think Paul was following? Did Paul have a rabbi? Of course.

Hillel. So what, Gamaliel. So what do we understand? That ultimately there's a place where Jesus reveals himself through others. And there are people that have a specific mandate to disciple.

Now. They're always pointing us to Jesus. It's not to us, but follow me as I follow Jesus. So if you want to see what it looks like to follow Jesus, then we need someone to live that out, don't we? Someone who's completely, 100% surrendered.

When you see that, rather than just read a book, watch a podcast, and then, God forbid, a year later, you find out that this great preacher wasn't who they said they were.

So you had to be covered by the dust of the rabbi. You had. You had to learn what they call halaka. Halaka in Hebrew means this, the walk. There's hadera, which means the pathway.

Haderek is the pathway, the roadway, the way. Remember, the Christians were called what?

Followers of the Way. Yeah, these are the ones. Followers of the Way. That's a Hebrew concept. They're following the way of their rabbi, Yeshua, Jesus, they're following his way, but the walk is what we do.

So what does that mean? The walk is this. Remember what the Bible says in 1 John 2:6. If anyone says they abide in him, let him walk. Even as Jesus walked.

Let them what? Halaka. Halaka. As Jesus walked, the rabbi be covered in his dust. Here's the Cool thing.

Jesus flipped the script. He did not go to Jerusalem. When he was looking for disciples to select from the pool of the academies and those who had been trained and equipped, he went to Galilee, Galilee of the Gentiles, a people that were intermarried. They had an accent that gave them away. They spoke in Aramaic primarily, and their accent gave them away.

And they were known as uneducated people. Typically, they were good people, hardworking, even successful in business. But. But they weren't the elite. They weren't the astute.

And so Jesus goes to Galilee, to a place a rabbi would never recruit from. And rather than just show up and say, hey, I'm here. Come and prove yourself if you're worthy to follow me, he actually calls them and says, follow me. The same language the rabbi would use. But the difference is, with the rabbis, it was your qualification that would bring you into the calling.

But with Jesus, it's the calling that qualifies you.

He takes those things that are not.

1 Corinthians, chapter 1, 27, 28. God has chosen the flesh. Foolish things of the world, the weak things and the base things of the world, and the things which are despised. Wow. Good people.

But not the ones you would choose to be your disciples. Whoa, Jesus. You've got a lot of faith, Jesus. He would. They would say, there's evidence that the saying was something like this.

You're not worthy. You don't have what it takes. But I do. And I'm in you, Jesus. I'm this amazing person.

I spend all this time in your word. I give, I pray, I do. I go on mission trips. I preach the gospel every Sunday in my church or wherever it may be. And he's like, means nothing.

See, the calling was this. Will you learn of me, my yoke? What is light? My burden? Yoke is easy.

My burden is light. Come and learn of me. Learn of me. So what he's looking for is humble people that will submit, people that will be corrected, people that will follow Jesus, do whatever he wants them to do. And rabbis would constantly challenge him.

Do you think Jesus did not challenge his disciples? Oh, my. He intentionally offended them. Right, Peter? He looks at him.

Just get behind me, Satan. Peter said, what, Satan? Who are you talking to? Judas. He's like, no, no.

You're mindful of the things of man, not of God.

Wow.

And he challenged them. He stretched them, he corrected them, he rebuked them. He exposed things in their life. He offended their minds, their thinking, in order to reveal their hearts. It was a calling to Christ.

Likeness. See, the goal ultimately is to be like Jesus.

So let me close with this. Discipleship has two components that I just want to quickly look at. First of all, there's maturation and secondly there's mobilization. Maturation is this maturity, right? We'll grow up, we'll be like Jesus.

The goal of five fold ministry, what the Lord wants for his church is very simple that, that we would grow into the fullness of the stature of Christ Jesus, individually and collectively as believers. We would grow, become more like Jesus. Never offended, never angered, except at religious self righteous stuff, things that were keeping people out of the kingdom. Yeah.

And so yeah, that's what he was, he was about.

So maturation, but then also this mobilization. So the idea is this, keep following close enough to get dusty. Let his halaka reshape yours until his instincts become your instincts, your nature. His nature is clearly your nature, in other words, and this is the inner loop of what it means to follow. So the idea, remember when it's In Acts chapter 4, verse 13, it says, seeing the boldness of Peter and John and knowing that they're just uneducated ordinary men, they marveled and they took notice that they had been with Jesus.

What is that?

They carry his yoke. We can tell they carry his yoke. So that's the reality of what is. But then secondly, every, every Talmud was discipled ultimately to potentially become a rabbi in formation, at least to leave a trail so that others could follow in their dust. So go make Talmudim of all nations be like Jesus.