This evening under the leadership of the Holy Spirit we will be examining The Platform of Discipleship. And I want us to start by observing a question that was raised by Philip in John 14:7-11. “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” 8 Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” For Philip, the Father is the model. The Father is the pattern, the example, the Father is the focus. So he said to Jesus, "Show us the Father", He is the real deal and we will be okay. And Jesus said to him from verse 9:
Listen To Podcast: THE PLATFORM OF DISCIPLESHIP
"Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long", have you seen me for this long, have you given your life to me, surrendered yourself to me for this long and yet; "you have not known me, Philip?" Jesus was disappointed at the question Philip raised. Have you been with Jesus for so long, given your life to Christ for so long and you said to me to show you the Father? That shows you have not known me, because if you do, you would not ask me this question. And Jesus answered and said:
"He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?" Jesus made this bold emphatic statement which in all of it saying, is the truth. Jesus said "He who has seen Me." So there is a seen! "He who has seen Me", not just those that have come to me. Those that have seen me, and I want us to note that word, "has seen the Father." He did not say those that have come to me have seen the Father. But those that have seen me. So, it talks about image. When you see, what do you see? You see an image, you see a picture. And He said "He who has seen Me", he who has seen my image and my picture have seen the Father.
"So how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? It is a wrong question, because if you have seen my image, you would know that you have seen the Father. So Jesus was saying to Philip, "Philip, you have not seen me." Because if you have seen me, you would not have asked that question. But the question we should ask ourselves is: How long, because for Jesus to mention and say "have I been with you for so long” meaning that Philip had been following Christ for a long time. Philip was not one of the people that were following Jesus for bread and for fish. Philip was not part of the people that encountered Jesus when He came to heal or somebody's house to preach. Philip was part of the privileged few that encountered Him early, and he was still not sure of whom he was following.
So it is not the number of years that you have given your life to Christ. It is not the number of years that you have surrendered your life to Christ or come out for altar call, Jesus is making an emphatic statement here, saying have you been with me for so long and you are asking this question. Many of us are like Philip, we are still asking this question; show us the Father. We are not asking Jesus directly, but in indirect ways; when things happen and begin to ask God, where are you? You are asking that same question that Philip asked. When something happen to you or a difficult situation comes your way and you say "God, are you looking at me, are you seeing me at all?" You are simply asking this same question; show us the Father.
You have been in ministry for so long, you know you are serving God and the things just don't add up, and you are saying, God, where is your face? You are still asking the question that Philip asked, show us the Father. And in verse 10 he said: "Do you not believe that I am in the Father." Because now He said if you have seen me, you have seen the Father. If only you have seen me. The condition is that you have seen me. And the question we should ask ourselves is that: Have you really seen Jesus? How many of us have actually seen Jesus? Because this is the platform of discipleship. Seen Jesus, have we seen Jesus? It is not just by singing the song alone, "Oh I see Jesus, I have seen Jesus, He is so handsome than anyone I know." No; it is not about the song.
It is about a conviction. Have you seen Jesus? Seen Jesus is encountering His person, encountering His personality, and he said, do you not believe? That is why He took it a step further, do you not believe? That means they do not believe. "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me?" He was asking them. "The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. 11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves." The question is: have we seen Jesus? When we see Jesus, what do we see? Because it is not like Philip had not seen Jesus before, I am sure he could paint and describe Jesus, but he had not seen past the superficial, he had not seen the core of Jesus because if he had seen that, he would have seen the Father. And the question that is being posed to us right now is; have you seen Jesus? Because when he asked the question, show us the Father. Please don't think it was only Philip alone that was asking this question.
Many of us are still asking the same question. We tell ourselves, "if I can just see God; if Jesus God can just reveal Himself to me, let me just see God." And that is the same thing we are asking, "show us the Father." But God had created for us a means through which we see Him with unveiled face. And I want us to go to Colossians 1:15, describing Jesus. The Bible says: "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation." So you don't mixed it up, you don't get confused. When you see Him, you see the image of the invisible God. So, when Jesus was saying in that John chapter 14, that if you have seen me, you have seen the Father. He was simply saying to them, I am the image of the invisible God, when you have seen me, you have seen the Father.
The same thing Hebrews chapter 1:1-3 said. It says:
"God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high."
Jesus is the express image of the invisible God. And I love the way He put it here! In the Passion Translation, Hebrews 1:3. It says: "The Son is the dazzling radiance of God’s splendor, the exact expression of God’s true nature—his mirror image!" Jesus is the mirror image of God, when we see Him, we see God. There is no two ways about it, and that is why you will see some people in search of God, they have gone into all manner of slavery and bondage, not knowing that God has instituted His Son, who is the exact image that mirrors His very nature to us. In Colossians 1:15 it says, "He is the divine portrait, the true likeness of the invisible God and the firstborn heir of all things."
I want us to go to Genesis 1:26 and see something emphatic there. "Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image (do you see that?), according to Our likeness." You would see that the two times that God used "Our", the our was in capital letter 'O'. “Let Us make man in Our image", the image of the God-head, and our likeness; "let them have dominion." Now, this is the beginning of discipleship. God wanted to model His very nature on the earth, and He created man. And He said "I am creating this man in my image and in my likeness." Now, I want you to note those two things: the image of God and the likeness of God define discipleship, and it is the two platforms upon which discipleship stands.
If you want to become the disciple of somebody, you don't want to become somebody that looks like him, in the sense of physical attributes. What you want to carry is the man's spirit, his skills, his abilities. And that is why He talks about image and likeness. Anywhere you see discipleship being mentioned, if these two things are not there, there is no discipleship. Discipleship is about becoming in the image of somebody and in the likeness of somebody. So God discipled man from the beginning, directly. Because He made Adam in His image and in His likeness. So, God discipled man directly. Now, when Adam fell, and lost dominion in the garden, he also lost the image and the likeness of God, he now became an ordinary man. So when God in all His wisdom, decided to want to replace what man lost, God had to present us again with a platform, with an opportunity, because platforms talks about opportunity.
So this evening, we are looking at the opportunity of our discipleship, the platform of our discipleship. We are discipled by God again in Christ. So God did not just send an angel to disciple us, He did not send a Cherub or a Seraph or one of the four living creatures or one of the twenty-four elders, God sent the exact portrait of Himself, the exact likeness, the full expression of Himself to us. That is why in that Colossians 1:15, it said "He is the divine portrait." If we get discipled by Him, we are automatically discipled by God, just as it was in Genesis 1:26. We are not missing out on anything, we are getting the full package just as it was in Genesis 1:26. Because this it! Understand Genesis 1:26, until we are made in His image according to His likeness, we cannot have dominion. So until you are discipled by Christ, until you allow Christ to disciple you; your dominion on earth is a joke.
So the opportunity for discipleship that God has given us is in His exact expression in the person of Jesus Christ. Everything about God is visible in Him. Unlike in the Garden of Eden that God would come in the cool of the day, to fellowship with Adam, Jesus came for thirty three and half years, He modeled to us the visible attributes and nature of God. And that is the platform and opportunity that God has given to us to be discipled. He is the express image. And we will see everything being told about Jesus in this Hebrews 1:1-3 and Colossians 1:15; it talked about image and likeness. So, what we lost in Genesis, we now have in Christ. The opportunity for discipleship, the platform for discipleship, for us to be gods on the earth that we lost in Genesis, we now have in Christ. No wonder Jesus said "but you are gods, all of you children of the Most High."
Whoever believes in Jesus and accept Him as Lord and Savior, and is discipled by Him, He gave them rights and privilege to become the children of God. And He said at a point to His disciples, I am going, but I will not leave you as orphans. The life of God, the discipleship walk that I have modeled to you, will still be modeled to you again by the person of the Holy Spirit. So the discipleship of Christ continued in the leadership of the Holy Spirit. And that is why the Bible says that as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. They are just like Christ. Those that are led, those that are discipled, those that have take up the opportunity to be discipled by Jesus; they are the sons of God.
No wonder in 1 Corinthians 11:1, Apostle Paul said something. Because for everyone that is born of God, they understand that the platforms for their discipleship are in Christ, not in any other, not in a pastor, not in a Pope. It is in Christ. 1 Corinthians 11:1, Apostle Paul said: "Imitate me, just as I." Why was he careful to put it this way? If you read through the writings of Apostle Paul, you will know that he is not just someone that writes anyhow. He writes deliberately. "He said Imitate me, just as I also", not in another way. I am not going to color it for you. "just as I also imitate Christ." What was he saying? I want you to pattern your lives like me, after me, just as I pattern mine after Christ, because Christ is the platform of our discipleship, He is the exact image of the invisible God. Everything we see in God is in Him.
There is no comma somewhere, there is no problem anywhere, and He is the exact image of the invisible God. So the question we ask ourselves is this: Why do I ask like Philip, "Show us the Father?" Why do I get worried, why do I complain and murmur? Why do I say show us the Father? Because we can see everything, Scriptures explaining Scripture, in Genesis 1:26, it is clear when He said "let us make man in our image" which shows it was not only God the Father talking, it was God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. So, everything you were made into was what Christ was in the beginning. Everything you were made into was what the Holy Spirit was in the beginning. Because He said "Let us", talking about the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
So, it is a collaborative effort. That is why our existence is standing on the three principal pinnacles of the Godhead. You can't say no, "I am for the Father, or I am for The Son or the Holy Spirit" because everything about you is a collaborative effort. So your discipleship is a collaborative effort, everything Jesus represents. That is why He admonished Philip not to get confused or worked up. He said to him; "I am in the Father", you cannot separate me from the Father, you cannot separate the expression of your life from that of the Father, you cannot separate the expression of your life from that of the Son, you cannot separate the expression of your life from that of the Holy Spirit. And you wonder, when the Bible says we have a speaking Spirit, where do we get that attributes from?
If you know the personality of the Holy Spirit, He is always talking. He fellowships, and fellowship is about communion, it is about communication. So what part of your life or discipleship do you want to exempt the Holy Spirit from or Christ or the Father? The three works in one, they stand in agreement as one and they must agree in your life, because that is how you can be properly discipled and have dominion on the earth. I want us to see that Scripture in 1 John 5, Scriptures explaining Scriptures. Because we understand that everything that Jesus was saying was not to get us confused, He wants us to get it clear that the platform of our discipleship is not a joke, that if you can just look Unto Him, the author and finisher of our faith, it settles it. 1 John 5:7. It says:
"For there are three that bear witness in heaven: (they bear witness together in heaven and so you cannot separate them) the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one." They are one in discipleship, they are one in leadership, they are one in influence and in the kingdom, you cannot separate them because they are one, and they must agree as one in your life as well. Because that is how you can be properly discipled. And that is why for people that has been discipled and says "you know what, I don't believe in the Holy Spirit, Jesus is enough"; you are not getting the full package. The full package is in the Trinity: The Father, The Word and The Holy Spirit and the three must agree. You cannot expunge this place from your Bible, 1 John 5:7. You cannot remove it. They must agree as one.
The Love of the Father must be evident in your life, the Grace of our Lord Jesus must be attendant and the Fellowship and communion of the Holy Spirit must be there for you to be properly discipled. That is the platform. Jesus is the express image. Apostle Paul said imitate me; pattern your life after me just as I pattern my life after Christ. He is my model, He is my example. He is my mode. He is the one I run after, if I can catch Christ, I have caught God, if I catch Christ, I have caught the Holy Spirit because they are one. Ephesians 4:13, it says: "till we all come." This is the goal, this is where we are all going and aspired for. And let us see how this expresses the platform our discipleship.
"Till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God." Who is the Son of God? Jesus Christ, "to a perfect man." When the Bible says 'perfect', without blemish, without spot, without wrinkle. When something is perfect, you cannot add anything to it. Jesus is our perfect platform for discipleship. There is no need to add any other thing to Christ, chase after Him, long after Him, let Him be your desire, see Jesus everyday in your life. It says: "to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." It is all about Christ. He is the platform of our discipleship, when you see Him you have seen God, because I and the Father are one. Whatever you see me do, it is as the Father does it, whatever you hear me say; it is as the Father says it. Nothing else!
He is perfect for you, and I want you to embrace this truth. As we conclude, you must understand this that your goal is to attain. And that is why Apostle Paul said "that I may know Him" because if I know Him, I know the Father. Once I know Him, I have grabbed and laid hold of the Father. Knowing Him is my pursuit and my life ambition. That I may know Him, because He is the platform of my discipleship. What is your zeal? What is consuming your heart? There are some people that all they think about are celestial beings, angels. They will say "How I can receive visitations from Gabriel or Michael, desiring to see constellations." What are you seen constellations for, when you can see the one that all constellations bow to? Because our issue and the reason why we have not stepped into all God's experience in our life is because we major on the minor and we minor on the major.
Instead of focusing on our major deal who is Christ Jesus, we get distracted, we look at creations, things that God has made, things that are sustained and upheld by the word of His power, we give attention to them, instead of giving our attention to our major focus which is Christ Jesus, and we get carried away. You have been looking up to men for too long, your General Overseer is not the pattern; the Pope is not your pattern. Your pattern, your model, your example, who is the exact image of God, is Jesus Christ. And you must look up to Him, you must desire Him, you must long for Him, your heart must pant for Him.
No wonder Jesus was saying to Martha, He said Martha, you are too busy. You are too cumbered by too much serving. You are concerned too much about tabernacle and serving, that you are missing out on the major thing. And that is what Mary has decided to do, to sit down at my feet and learn of me. And He concluded, "no one would be able to take this away from her." When you have Jesus, you have the life and the life of God is in you, He is the major deal. The Bible says no other foundation can be laid than that which has been laid, which is Christ. He is the foundation, the platform and the opportunity for us to be discipled by God. If you are not focusing on the real thing, the devil will take advantage of your spiritual hunger.
The only time the devil cannot take advantage of you is when you are focusing on Christ, and when your focus is Christ, I pray the Lord will help us in Jesus' name. Let us be imitators of Christ, let us live our lives according to His pattern. There is a way, He said "I am the way, the truth and the life; no one can see the Father except through me." It is a time for us to stop all the activities and the noise and focus on Jesus. It is a time for us to stop all razzmatazz and focus on Jesus. It is a time for us to stop all the entertainment and the gambling that is going on in our worship centers and focus on Jesus. God is calling us back; this is an opportunity for discipleship. Now we are not going to our various church centers anymore, this is the time to shut down the noises and focus on Jesus. Hear Him speak to you, sit at His feet and learn of Him, that is how you can become all that God wants you to be.
I want you to bow down your head and speak to the Lord. Say:
"Lord I am making a conscious commitment to focus on Jesus, from today, I look unto Jesus, unto Christ Jesus, the author and the finisher, no other person is involved in this, my hope is built on nothing else, than Jesus blood and righteousness, I do not trust the sweetest frame, but lean only on Jesus name. On Christ the solid rock I stand, every other ground is sinking sand. Every other institution or establishment is sinking sand. Jesus is my platform, He is my opportunity to be like God and focus on God, and I focus on Him."
Pray!
