The privilege of being a disciple

It is a privilege to be a disciple of the Lord. I don't know how many of you will think the same, but I believe that it is a privilege to be able to be that, to be a disciple of Christ. And obviously, when I say a disciple of Christ, I don't mean the denomination, the denominational group, but I am talking about the concept of genuine discipleship, which is found here in the Scriptures and that we learn.

And I don't know how many of you at some point, at some point in your history, the story of your life, have had a teacher who in some way or another transformed your life. And I'm not necessarily referring to the types of teachers who might break a rule on you. I don't mean those kind of teachers. Rather, I am referring to a teacher, a teacher who truly made a difference, marked his life, be it by his example, be it by his teaching style, or by the mere fact that at some point he took a little time to sit down with you and went the extra mile.

But I can think or I can understand that most of us have had people like that, that we remember them and can recall those moments that one says, like wow, if it hadn't been for this teacher, or this teacher who told me that, he told me the other, who knows where I would have been now.

For my part, I can say that yes, I have had teachers, I have had pastors, I have had mentors. And I remember one of my pastors, I can say that I have three pastors who have made a difference in my life. Obviously one of them is Pastor Roberto and he knows it, I tell him, and it's not to lick his eye, but I tell him because it's the truth. Another of the pastors that I have had is Pastor Rafael Osorio, who is in a Baptist church here in the city of Springfield, in Massachusetts.

But one of the pastors that I remember the most in my life is Pastor Samuel Caravallo, he was the first pastor I had in Puerto Rico. And the reason why I remember this man was not only because of his dynamism in his pastoral style, but rather because of what he did after that pastoral role. This pastor was my track coach when I was in my high school years. And I remember that always, from Monday to Friday, after school finished, he would put us on the bus, on the bus, and take us to the hill park, there at the tip of San Juan, in Puerto Rico.

And it was there in the nose where he sent us to run, to spin around the nose, going up and down hills and breathing all the saltpeter that came out of the sea. And one of the things that I remember most about him, my brothers, that was most memorable for me, was that when we got tired, that we couldn't run anymore, he would come and stand next to us and start to walk. running next to us and told us: “calm down, breathe, concentrate and keep running”. And I had to keep running. And then at the end, when we would resume the practice, he would sit with us, while we did our flexibility stretch and cool down, he would talk to us, he would embody what the Bible was in us. He used precisely those training experiences, the suffering that one went through, the headaches that one went through, he used that and brought to light biblical truths to teach us in those moments.

I think that is one of the reasons why I remember this person so much. And I still cherish it to this day. And if he were seeing me on the Internet, I would also let him know that, Pastor Caravallo, you continue to be an example in my life even to this day. And if I'm here it's because of you too, and for that I give glory to God too.

But the reason why I mention this, my brothers, is because from it one learns what genuine discipleship is. Look, there is a big difference between being a student and being a disciple. A student is the person who comes to class, sits down, does their homework, reads the books, makes one or another comment in class, and that's it. But the disciple is the one who, in addition to doing that, seeks to learn far beyond what a book can teach, seeks to be in contact with the teacher, the teacher. If you have a question or a doubt, you go directly to the teacher and you want to get information directly from him or her, because you are not satisfied with what you receive sitting at a desk, but you need to have that connection directly with the information resource that is teaching that class. That is what defines a true disciple.

What's more, I could say that a true disciple is that person who is so in tune with his teacher, his teacher, who knows him so well that he is able to finish his sentences before he finishes them. And you know, in the Bible there is an example about this type of discipleship, which is very important, and it is very important for each one of us. It is important for those who have graduated from their discipleship as well as for the rest of all of us in our Christian lives. Because whether you are taking a discipleship class or not, the mere fact that you are here, you become a follower of Christ, a disciple of Christ. You are a student of the Lord Jesus.

And when I look at the Bible, the Scripture, one of the best examples of discipleship that I have is found in the book of John, and I would like you to go there with me, to the Book of John, chapter 15. I would say that this is one of My favorite parts of the entire Bible, chapters 13 through 16 of the book of John, from the Gospel of John, is one of my favorite parts. And the reason why I say this is because here is one of the few moments where we see Jesus open like a book and begin to share with his disciples the most intimate secrets of the Kingdom of God.

It is here, in these chapters, where Jesus dares to take off his robe and tie a robe and wash the feet of his disciples, something that he would not have done in any other context. But at that level of intimacy with his disciples, he did. It was at that level of intimacy that Jesus managed to identify the person who was going to betray him, and it was at that level of intimacy that Jesus poured out all the truths of the Kingdom of God so that his disciples could understand it, they could know it, they could know it. and knew how to live in light of this. John, chapter 15, we are going to start reading from verse 4, it says like this:

“…Remain in me and I in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself if it does not abide in the vine, so neither can you if you do not abide in me. I am the vine and you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, this one bears many fruits, because apart from me they can do nothing. He who does not abide in me will be thrown out like a branch and will wither and they gather him up and throw him into the fire and burn. But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask what you want and it will be done for you..."

How many of you can say amen to that part of the Bible? How many of you can amen to the part that says, if you remain in me and my words in you? Ah, okay, I'm going to take them right now.

Look, my brothers, every time we read this, for me these verses are very revealing. Because when I hear Jesus say, “ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you,” that's a pretty generous offer, right? That is a very welcome, very worthy offer. It gives anyone like that a sense of encouragement. Well, wait, let's think then what can I ask for here?

When one sees the dynamic that Jesus had with his disciples at this time, that Jesus was letting them know these secrets. What Jesus said there is a secret and he was making it known to his disciples.

And look, I can tell you, one of the greatest benefits of being a disciple is the mere fact that you can know, that you can know something. I don't know about you, but the fact that you know something gives you a sense of value, it gives you a sense of importance. It is very different to be an ignorant person, who knows nothing about life, and you see him walking around, as if spaced out in the air, from being a person who knows things about life.

A person who has knowledge of different stages of life, is a person who lives with a strong, high and confident sense of esteem for himself and herself. Just because you know something. Look, I tell you a story. Here in the church there is a brother named Tonio Díaz, some of you may not know him, but brother Tonio Díaz, when I bought my first house in Randolph, the kitchen had to be completely renovated. That kitchen was a disaster, I knew I was buying a house that was going to need remodeling. But obviously I don't know how to remodel and we didn't have the budget to pay someone. So brother Tonio told me, "Look, I'm going to help you." And I, “But, Tonio, I don't even know how to work with a jigsaw and you're going to help me? Do not hurry"

He took a two week vacation. Obviously he owns his work, so he took a two-week vacation, and in those two weeks brother Tonio would come to my house, and he wouldn't do the work, he would tell me, “Look, Omar, this is how this is done. This is how you have to measure.” This man taught me to work with a jigsaw, with a saw, with a table saw. He taught me how to grip the wood and make a very fine cut. He taught me how to put up cabinets, how to put up countertops. He taught me how to do sink plumbing. He taught me how to pull power lines for the counter. He taught me how to make the tile mix and how to lay the tile or slab. He taught me how to do all this, my brothers, and you know what? I will remember this man for the rest of my life because he took out of his time to teach me something, and the mere fact that he taught me, when people come to my house and say, "Wow, Omar, What a beautiful kitchen” it's like… who did that job for you? Me, with a little help. God help me, Tonio knows that I owe a lot to him.

But in that sense, my brothers, when you know how to do something, when you know something, it gives you a sense of honor, it's like wow, I know how to do this. I know what this means.

Do you know another context where this happens a lot? In couples. How many couples do we have here? And the couples that are also being formed out there. Look, there is nothing more precious to a spouse, be it a man or a woman, than when you are talking with your partner and suddenly a topic comes up and the other party, like they are not very aware of the subject, and one does know what that one is talking, because it happened to me with Heidi, that we are talking and suddenly we bring up a topic and she says, and what are you talking about? And I, oh, wait, you don't know this topic? And when she tells me no, I have to freeze, I have to freeze that moment and absorb it. I am explaining something to my wife that she does not know, but vice versa, because there are times when she has to talk to me about something that I am not very aware of, and she would also like to freeze that moment for hours, just to absorb the fact that that I don't know and she is explaining something to me.

But, that my brothers, brings a sense of fullness, of satisfaction, being able to know and give information to another person that can build the life of that other person and elevate it to a new level. That knowing, my brothers, helps us to impart a blessing to other people around us.

Another context that I can mention. How many of you have good friends? TRUE? When that friend shares a secret with you, something very intimate about his life, how do you feel? Do you feel important? You feel like wow, this person is sharing something very personal with me. And it is not that you are going to go now, as a spokesperson out there, to tell him everything that this person shared with you. No, no, but when I am speaking within the context of a genuine friendship, that one values that confidentiality, that trust that they give one, knowing those intimate things about that person, they make me feel important, because I am sharing the journey of life that person leads, and that person has shared that with me so that I can help him, support him, motivate him throughout whatever situation he shared with me.

And that knowledge, my brothers, gives us a sense of wow, wait, this is important. In the same way it happens with this context of discipleship of Jesus, in which Jesus is revealing the secrets of the Kingdom of God to his disciples and the disciples then remain like, wow, wait, this is very important. This is giving me a level of privilege that others do not have, because God through Jesus is giving me to demonstrate what he wants to do with me.

But, here comes the but, because my brothers, not everything in life is free, right? Unless you go to a Stop and Shop and come across a product that says, buy one, get one free, right? but you know what, that's not true, because what they are doing is reducing the price and they are more or less doing it half and half. They are supposed to laugh there.

The matter is this. Look how he says this. "If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you." Right, that sounds pretty nice, my brothers? But that asking comes with a condition, it comes with a price. In order for you to be able to ask for and receive what you long for and desire in your life, you have to remain in the Lord, you have to remain, be obedient to his commandments, to the things that he asks of you.

Look, I ask you a question. How many of you believe in unconditional love? Let me see, by hand, a sample of hands. How many of you believe in unconditional love? OK. How many of you believe that love is conditional? There are some hands that are like I don't know. Okay, let me explain.

The only love that I know of in the whole world that is unconditional is the love of God. Amen, glory to God. At least we can answer that well. It is unconditional in the sense that even though we were sinners, what happened? Christ died for us. It is unconditional in the sense that salvation is by grace and not by works. Sounds pretty nice up there, right? But when you decide to accept that love, when you decide to live in the light of that love, is it still unconditional? Or is it a combination of both? It's a combination of both, my brothers.

What happened to the ten commandments? What were the ten commandments? Were they a sign of God's unconditional love? What's more, the mere fact that God says, if you want to experience my blessing you can't have any other God but me, all your love is for me. Does that sound unconditional? That is a well conditioned love. And with very clear and well-defined expectations.

They know that from the ten commandments throughout the entire Hebrew Scripture of the Old Testament there arose around 600-odd laws that come to light from the ten commandments and the people of Israel were governed by those 600-odd laws. But in the person of Jesus, of course, those laws were, as they say, consummated in the person of Jesus and now Jesus becomes our law. We live according to what Jesus asks of us.

But whatever, it's still a conditional love. It's more if I keep reading a little further on. Look at verse 12, how does it say?

“…This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this that one lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you…”

Look, I'm going to tell you a joke. Today I am half funny with jokes myself. My son Lucas is in that stage of life where he asks everything, are you my friend? You're my friend? Lucas and I were playing with one of his little trains recently in the living room of the house, and obviously we have two trains. So he, very happy, every time I tell him, are we going to do the little train? Ugh, he shows off and “Okay, daddy, this is your train, this is my train.” And he gives me the train that runs slower. So we set up the Thomas Train track, we set it up, and every time he tells me, “Daddy, do it like this,” it's because he wants the little train to go under it, like it's a bridge. So, I have to become the engineer and the architect and make the train in such a way. The thing is that when the trains are running, since his train moves faster, well, it catches up with mine and crashes. So he tells me, "No daddy, you can't crash," and he wants to take the little train and drive it out. And I tell him, "No, but Lucas, we're sharing, we're sharing." And it's like he starts to get annoyed. Okay, he takes it and puts it in front and when he comes back and turns around he collides with him. "No daddy, you're crashing." The thing is, my boy got upset. And he goes over there to his mom and tells her, I can hear him from here in the living room, and he says, “Mommy, daddy is not sharing.” I say, "mommy, don't worry, everything is under control."

The thing is, look what a tactician my son is. He annoyed, with chu, sits on the floor, right next to the train track. And when he sees my train go by, he picks it up and pulls it out, and says, "You're not my friend any more." But come here. I mean, first of all I didn't teach him that, it's clear, and the second thing I tell myself, look how interesting that even in childhood at that stage they can develop conditional love. In the sense that if we play, you have to play on my terms. And I'm sure many of you here when you were in elementary school, if one of your friends didn't play according to your terms, you would say, “ah, I'm not going to listen to you, you're not my friend anymore. ” Or am I wrong? No, you are all saints, of course.

But the point is, my brothers, what I am talking about is based on a love, my brothers, that has its conditions. A couple, look, if someone here, if one of the couples here comes and says to me, "Oh, pastor, I love my husband or my wife unconditionally", mmm... and I say this with a lot of respect, my brothers, it's clear. But from all that I have seen, if you take a full glass of water and start to pour it into another glass, and there is nothing to fill this glass of water. What will happen to that glass? It's going to empty at some point.

So, that love has a condition, I love you, but I hope to receive your love back too. Don't expect me to be washing your pants, ironing your clothes, making you food all the time if you're not going to do something for me at some point. Amen.

There the Holy Spirit moved, I felt it. Jesus is doing the same in this context, my brothers, of what discipleship is, and genuine discipleship, it is a discipleship that is based on love, that is based on an intimacy, on an affinity that Jesus had with his disciples and that he wanted his disciples to have him with him.

When Jesus was telling his disciples, look, I am no longer going to call you servants, I am going to call you friends, because the servant does not know what the owner or the father is doing, but the friend does. Look, I know that many of us, there are times when our religious word, we say, oh, no, if I am a mere humble servant of the Lord. Look, amen, we are all servants of the Lord, but if you tell me, I prefer to say, I consider myself a friend of God and before that I consider myself a child of God. I prefer to be a son, and then a friend, and then a servant. If you ask me my priorities, I would put them like this: I prefer to be a son first, then a friend, and then a servant. Because? For the mere fact of intimacy, of closeness that one can enjoy with God.

And it is a closeness that the Lord does not want to give to all of us, but there are times when we are a bit stubborn and we want it to bear fruit outside of the vine. We believe that on our own we can do everything and look, yes, if you see life out there, there are things that people manage to achieve by their own strength. But it does it like who says, up to a certain level. But when one has God by one's side, I tell you, the possibilities are greater then, they are unlimited.

And look, I tell you, my brothers, what Jesus was telling his disciples to remain in him, he was not saying it just to say it, he was saying it at a very important moment. Jesus is talking about this intimacy with his disciples moments before he is arrested. And he was telling him, you have to stay in me, in my teachings because Jesus knew that the moment he was arrested, his boys were going to be scandalized. So, what can we do now? Our teacher, our leader, they have taken him from us, they want to kill him. The leader we thought was going to restore all of Israel is now suddenly missing.

He knew that his boys were going to run off each other. And for that very reason, the Lord was telling them, look, you have to abide in my teachings, in my word. If you really want to show that you love me, you have to stay there.

Look, I tell you something very revealing, my brothers, I am now working with a book, I am reading a book, which talks about what the generation is, the philosophy, the idealism from a postmodern generation. And that is something very difficult to explain but at night and in a well summarized way. The postmodern generation is described by the mere fact that they do not believe in absolute truth. And by that I mean, a person that if you tell him, Christ is the way of truth and life, that person is going to tell you, "Hm, that's what you think, but it's not what I necessarily think." believe."

We say that Jesus is the only way, the postmodern mind says, there are many ways to get to God. That is the generation in which we are living now. People, look at how the chain goes, that by not believing in a truth because you don't have that truth then your personal identity is open to any other truth that comes along and if that identity is open to any kind of influence, look, that means that the identity of that person is going to be insecure at all times, because one day they are going to believe one thing and another day when the new Pompeii comes out, ah, well, we are going to believe this now. And when the new clothing trend comes out, well, ah, well, I don't like ankle-length pants anymore, now I want to wear skinny leather pants so that I can see how little I have.

This is how people think in this generation. So, therefore when one is saying these words, wow, look, yes, I want to ask for what I want, but they are giving me a condition, the postmodern generation is going to say, why am I going to live on conditions? No. I set my own conditions and they insist on that, to set their own conditions.

Why am I saying that, my brothers? Because today, more than ever, what Jesus is telling us presents a very big challenge for our lives. That in order to be a disciple, a very genuine, very clear, very real disciple, to the marrow, one has to know how to face these things that are going to try to contradict what we believe. A postmodern generation might have said to Jesus like, and why do I have to remain in what you are saying, what you are asking of me? Why can't I believe what this other guy over here is telling me, that it sounds easier than what you're proposing?

But no, my brothers, we are that generation that remains faithful to what the Lord Jesus commands of us. Because we have seen that he is that solid truth, he is that axis where all other things are held and if one gets out of there, as the text is saying, "... if you are a branch that wants to live outside the vine, what will happen to you? Look, you're going to end up like a wrinkled raisin, without fruit, without flavor and without anything. But if we remain connected to what he is, what he means, your life will bear great fruit, my brothers.

And that is why I share this with you, about that privilege that we have, my brothers, to be able to be called disciples of the Lord Jesus. First of all we have direct access to the Father. Look, how Jesus says in the 14th chapter. Let me read this to you real quick. In chapter 14, verse 12 he says:

“…Truly I tell you, whoever believes in me, the works that I do, he will also do and even greater because I go to the Father and everything that you ask the Father in my name, I will do so that it may be glorified through the Son…”

And again he emphasizes, whatever they ask in my name, underline it, he says, I will do it. But for us to live up to that secret, we have to conform to what he's asking for. And the beauty of all this, my brothers, is that this is not a process that we are going to do on our own or by our own strength or by our own intuition, to say something more mystical, but it is something that it comes from God's work through the spirit in us.

Notice how it also says, later in verse 14:

“…He who loves me, keeps my word and my Father will keep him and we will come and make our home with him. He who does not love me does not keep my words and the word that you have heard is not mine but is directly from God and I have told you these things while being with you, but the comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send In my name, he will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you..."

Look at the work of the Holy Spirit that helps us in this whole process, my brothers. He does not leave us alone when he is going to be removed, but he is there through the Holy Spirit as a living presence, tangent in our being that helps us to know what God has for our lives.

Every time we sing that King of Glory song, we say who that King of Glory is. Who chases me with his love. His words amaze me, whispering inside me. And look, how he says: my conscience reminds me that I need your forgiveness. He is the King of glory who offers it to me today. In other words, these words are so profound, my brothers, because they reflect precisely this dynamic of how the Holy Spirit, through different events, moments in our life, is like keeping us on check, keeping us on check of what God wants, ask and demand of us. Reminding us what his purposes are for our lives.

What better privilege can we have than that? A direct access to the Father, the mysteries that he has in his heart for each of our lives and that are not mysteries that remain in one person, but that move us to share them with others as well. And that it is a work that in a mysterious way is operated through the Holy Spirit dwelling in us.

And finally, my brothers, the mere fact that Jesus calls us friends. Listen to me, I really thank God for the close friends I have. Pastoral life can be somewhat solitary, in the sense that one always has this tendency to keep his personal life, his privacy. But I thank God for close friends with whom you can say, Look, can we go have coffee? Come on, of course. And we sit down, talk, make jokes and let go of the things that one has inside. Because? Because I know that this friend is not going to, as one might say, "you, who are a pastor, how is it going to be?"

Look, if I started sharing some of the intimacies that I have, half of you would run out of here. But I'm not going to think, I'm not that bad please, I'm a man in progress, just like all of you. But that is where I see, my brothers, the validity of being able to have a friend, a friend, a person in whom one can trust. And I say that very carefully because perhaps some of us have been betrayed by someone we considered to be a good friend, a good friend, and these are things that happen. But it's not the last Coke in the desert either.

God has people around us. And look, by saying this, I am not referring to all of us going to be a hundred dollar bill for the whole world. I cannot be close friends with all of you, nor can you be close friends with me. But yes, like Jesus, that Jesus had his concentric circles of friends, even within the disciples themselves. He had his 12 disciples but only 3 of them went apart to pray, and only one of them could lay his head on Jesus' chest.

So, I learn. That for me is very revealing of Jesus himself, that one has to have his levels of friends. And it is not that one does not love one more than the other, but it is so. It is so. I am sharing all this with you, my brothers, so that we can get true value from this discipleship dynamic in which we are. Yes, discipleship through the classes that are given, but discipleship at the level that Jesus is our teacher, that Jesus is that friend who wants to share the secrets that he has in his heart with each one of us. That they are secrets that can transform our lives, they are secrets that can move us to new levels, they are secrets, look, they are going to confront us at some point and they are going to pull our ears, and of course not.

I have a personal friend here in the church who has done that to me in various conversations. He has pulled my ears, and he has done it with complete confidence and I respect him for that. But in the same way I do it with him too. And Jesus does the same with each one of us, my brothers. He wants to bring out the best in you. The Lord wants to bring out the best that is in you because he knows what he has put in you. He knows what he has done in your life. And that is why he wants you to see the privilege of being a disciple of his.

So I invite you, my brothers, we are going to stand up and we are going to finish, reflecting on this. The only way for us to be able to enjoy all the things that I have told you is by having a close relationship with the Lord Jesus, it is the only way in which we can enjoy it, my brothers. If you do not remain united to that vine, the enjoyment will be half, it will be like the enjoyment of the crowds, because the crowds took advantage of Jesus no matter what. There were miracles that were done here and there, but they were very sporadic things. But if you want the total benefit, not only of those blessings that may be sporadic and superficial, but also of having that intimate connection, that direct connection with the Father, the key is to abide in Jesus.

Do you want to ask for everything you have in your heart? ask for it God is going to give it to you, but in order to get there, you need that connection, my brother and my sister, if you don't have that, you're not going anywhere. Wow!

Yes, you're going to get somewhere but you're going to stay halfway. I have to say it like this. God longs to have that connection with us. So there where you are, I want to invite you to close your eyes and think about the stage in life in which you are right now, think about what God has done for you, the past years, what he is doing now, what he can do, what he is going to do.

And Lord, right now, we direct our thoughts to you, Lord, we direct our hearts to you. Thank you for this word to which we have been exposed, because it is a word of life, Lord, that transforms our being. Thank you because through you, Jesus, we have direct access to God, to the secrets, the mysteries, the desires that are in your heart. And because through your Holy Spirit we can receive that kind of filling that comes only from you. And thank you for the mere fact, Lord, that you call us friends, you call us friends, Lord Jesus. By opening your heart and sharing the things that are in you and with us, you call us friends, and you move, my God, to that level of intimacy with us.

Father, I want to pray for my brothers and sisters, Lord, if perhaps any of them feel that perhaps they have strayed a little from the vine, that perhaps they have wanted to try to bear fruit on their own, and these words You're bringing that awareness, activating it, and bringing a sense of conviction, Lord. I ask that each one of those people, wherever they are, that they can right now, in this moment, Lord, restore that connection with you, Lord.

You are an expert in making grafts so if you have to make a graft one more time in the vine so that that person can bear the fruit that he has to give, Father, you have the power to do it. Father, and if there is someone who has not known that love, if there is someone who does not know what it is to be, even if it is connected to the vine, I ask that this afternoon be a moment where that connection can be made, Lord, that Today you open the heavens, my God, and deposit on that man, on that woman, on that young man, that conviction of what your love can do in the midst of his life, Lord.

I entrust each one of my brothers and sisters into your hands, Lord, we as a church, Lord, we want to remain on the vine, we want to remain with you, Lord, in your commands, in your teachings to be able to bear the fruit that you want us to give.

Help us, my God, we are imperfect beings. Help us and that we can leave here with that conviction, with that certainty, Lord, that you are with us, that you walk with us, that you are the one who encourages us along the way, that you are the one who comforts us. , who lifts us up, who corrects us, who heals us, who restores us and who teaches us the path in which we must walk.

I bless each one of my brothers and sisters here this afternoon and on each and every one of us, Lord, pour out your blessing. We long for it and we desire it and we thank you for the privilege of being your friends, of being your disciples, Lord, in this world in which we live. We love you, Lord, and we bless you through your Son Jesus, amen and amen.

Thank my Lord.