“Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And I said ‘Here am I. Send me'” (Isaiah 6:8).

The first characteristic of a disciple of Jesus is faithfulness.

The second characteristic of a disciple is availability. A disciple of Jesus Christ is available to be used by God for God’s purposes.

One of our favorite hymns is “Here I am Lord.”

I, the Lord of sea and sky, I have heard my people cry.
All who dwell in deepest sin, my hand will save.
I who made the stars of night, I will make their darkness bright.
Who will bear my light to them? Whom shall I send?

Here I am Lord. Is it I, Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go Lord, if you lead me.
I will hold your people in my heart.

Being available to God for God’s purposes certainly includes one’s willingness. I can go. I will do it. But there is more to being available to God.

When I was a youth pastor, there was a high school senior who wanted to be a part of the praise band as the drummer. He would have been an awesome drummer! He was a musician and a fantastic drummer.

But, even though he was willing, he was not ready. You see, the kid was a notorious dealer. Unless he changed and stopped dealing, he was not ready yet. His life did not match his desire to serve. If he genuinely wanted to serve, he would need to change his life. But, that he was not willing to do. And his unwillingness to change made him unavailable. He had the talent, the ability, and the willingness. But because he was unwilling to change his life, he was not available. 

Being available to God also includes living a God-honoring life so that when God calls, we are not only willing, but that we have readied our lives to match God’s calling.

God loves F.A.T Disciples:

• Faithful
• Available

“Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart” (Proverbs 3:3).

The first characteristic of a disciple of Jesus is faithfulness.

What does it mean to be faithful? What does faithfulness look like? How can one be faithful?

The Hebrew word for faithfulness is emeth. This word primarily means firmness, faithfulness, and truth. It speaks of someone or something that is reliable, sure, and stable.

There are a couple of things to be aware regarding faithfulness:

• First, being faithful is not the same thing as being perfect. The only one who has ever been truly and perfectly faithful is Christ. This doesn’t mean that what’s required of us is well-meaning or wishful thinking. We should be reliable, sure, true, firm, and faithful. We should be able to be counted on. Without faithfulness, truth, and reliability, relationships break down. Trust breaks down.
  
  Faithful people can be counted on.
  
• Second, being faithfulness is pre-determinedness. Let me explain. If you wait until a moral, spiritual, relational situation where faithfulness, truthfulness, firmness, reliableness, sureness is required to determine to be faithful, you are asking for trouble. When it comes to being faithful, this is something that needs to be decided upon long before a compromising situation arises.
  
  Being faithful to God is a predetermined decision.
  
  You choose to be faithful long before a situation that requires your faithfulness arises. If you’ve predetermined to be faithful, then when a compromising situation arises, you don’t even have to think about it. The decision to be faithful has already been made. Compromise is not even an option because you’ve already predetermined to be faithful.
  
  Do you get how faithfulness works?

The first characteristic of a disciple/follower of Jesus Christ is faithfulness.

Imagine these words describing every Christ follower:

• Firm
• True
• Faithful
• Reliable
• Sure
• Stable

F.A.T. Disciples – Faithful.

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20).

The mission of the Little Church on the Prairie and Lakewoodgrace is to make disciples and grow disciples who share the love of Jesus with all people. We exist to make and grow disciples. The mission statement of the Little Church and Lakewoodgrace comes straight out of the Great Commission found in Matthew 28.

Jesus told the disciples that the Great Commission is why the church exists. This was the last thing Jesus told his disciples before he ascended into heaven. He wanted to make crystal clear the main purpose of the church.

• It’s not about keeping people entertained
• It’s not about making people happy
• It’s all about disciples!

What kind of disciples? First, the kind of disciples we are to baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. These are new Christians. The disciples are in the business of making new disciples. Jesus tells the disciples, “Go and make disciples of all nations.”

But there’s a couple of things you ought to know about the Greek.

• “Go” is written in the present tense imperative. What that means is that this is not a one time going, but an on-going going. The best way to understand this phrase is to translate it as “While you are going…”
• The second thing is that “make disciples” is one word in the Greek. In the way English Bibles translate this makes it sound like “make” is the verb and “disciples” is the object or the noun. But this is not the way it’s written in the Greek. Disciple in the Greek is a verb. The best way to understand this is to phrase it as “While you are going, disciple people around you to become kingdom people…”

The purpose of the church is to disciple people around us to discover their own place in God’s kingdom. And every single person that receives Jesus as Lord and Savior and begins living as a disciple automatically becomes another person who is about the business of discipling others to Jesus Christ.

The second purpose of the church is to grow faithful disciples. Jesus tells us, “and teach them to obey everything I have commanded.” That’s what being a disciple means – a disciple is literally a follower. We follow the lead of Jesus Christ. We do what Jesus does. We go where Jesus goes. We resemble Jesus Christ because we follow Jesus Christ. We do that through obedience.

It’s not enough to just believe. Belief leads to obedience. In fact, without obedience we have to wonder whether we believe to begin with.

So, it begs the question: What do disciples look like? What are the characteristics of a God-honoring disciple?

I am so glad you asked. That’s the question we will be answering in the next three days.