Welcome to Connect with Skip Heitzig Weekend Edition. We're glad you've joined us for today's program. Connect with Skip Heitzig wants to connect you to God's never-changing truth through verse-by-verse teaching of his word. And that's why we make messages like this one today available to you and so many others on air and online.
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Now let's get into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig. If you have ever paused in a cemetery to read tombstones, which I do frequently, Not because I bury people a lot, though I do, but also whenever I travel, I like to visit cemeteries, especially old cemeteries, because they like to write books on tombstones. They inscribed so many paragraphs, and it's great to sort of get. A listing of what that person was about and relatives and what was meaningful to them. And sometimes you'll read tombstones and There'll be very sad ones.
There'll be others that are very hopeful ones.
Some that are very convicting. And some that are just, well, they're humorous. And you wonder about them. These are actual readings of registered graveyard tombstones from London, England. seventeen sixty seven, The woman who died, her name was Ann Mann.
M-A-N-N Here lies Ann Mann, who lived an old maid. But died an old man. First service got it, I don't know where. In Uniontown, Pennsylvania, acknowledging an auto accident. The tombstone reads: Here lies the body of Jonathan Blake, who stepped on the gas instead of the brake.
I couldn't do that. I couldn't write that. That's just kind of cruel. Here's one I actually like. This is from Thurmont, Maryland.
Here lies an atheist. All dressed up, but no place to go. Doesn't he wish? Here's one I actually read at Boot Hill Cemetery in Tombstone, Arizona. Here lies Lester Moore, Four slugs from a 44.
No less, no more. I'm letting you catch up with that one. Lester Moore, no less, no more. From Edinburgh, Scotland, the grave of a local dentist reads. Stranger.
Tread this ground with gravity. Dentist Brown is filling his last cavity. Oh come on, that's kind of cool. From Ruidoso, New Mexico. Here lies Johnny Yeast.
Pardon me for not rising. Ha ha ha ha. That's awesome.
So, if Jesus would have had an inscription outside of his tomb, what would it have read? Perhaps it would have read, relax, I'm just borrowing it for the weekend. Or here lies Jesus Christ. Pardon me for rising. Because within a few days of this burial setting, Life will be different.
We come now to that scene, the graveyard scene, the cemetery scene, where two, they're called disciples. step out of the shadows into the light and handle The body of Christ, take it off the cross and put it in the tomb. It is. Post-mortem preparation for burial. The two individuals that we are considering here.
were prominent individuals, wealthy individuals. They were um Leaders among the Jews, both in the Jewish Sanhedrin, the high court of the Jews. But one of them is called here a disciple, and it would seem by the action of both that both of them. Have placed their trust in Jesus, both of them. have acknowledged their need of Christ.
And both of them are on a journey, a spiritual journey. called discipleship. If ever there was a Christian buzzword, it's the word discipleship. In the 1970s, that word became very popularized, and you couldn't read a book or article without hearing or reading of discipleship, discipleship, discipleship. It's a great emphasis to have.
But often, some of those articles and writings have very narrow parameters as to what discipleship is. I want to give you four principles for discipleship that are usually not talked about or noticed. stuff that you're not going to find anywhere else, but I think emerges from our text.
So we'll get a fresh rendering of discipleship from a different view. We begin in verse thirty eight this morning of chapter nineteen. It reads this. After this, Joseph of Arimathea, Being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus. And Pilate gave him permission.
So he came and took The body of Jesus. And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes. about a hundred pounds. And they took the body of Jesus. and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury.
Now, in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden. And in the garden a new tomb. in which no one had been laid, So there they laid Jesus. Because of the Jews preparation day. for the tomb was nearby.
First thing I'd like you to notice about discipleship in this text is discipleship. is unpredictable. You don't always know who's going to join the ranks of the followers of Christ. These two men were unexpected disciples.
Now do you remember in reading the Gospels It says the common people heard Jesus gladly. That's a general statement the author gives that if you were to look out over the crowd of followers, you would see just normal, common, everyday blue collar workers, making ends meet type of people. That's who follow Jesus by and large. Not a lot of scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees and kings and rulers, just common people. And then It was Paul who will later on write these words: You see your calling, brethren.
There's not many mighty, not many noble, not many wise after the flesh who are called. But God has chosen The foolish things of this world to confound the wise. I remember when I first read that verse, and I said, I found my life verse. The foolish things. Not many wise, not many mighty, not many noble.
And I went, it's a good thing. Common people. But every now and then you'll find somebody wise and mighty and noble. There are exceptions to that rule. Paul the Apostle was one.
very astute, very erudite, very influential, very powerful. Very mighty. And here too with these disciples, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. Both of them wise and influential. Notable.
Leaders prominent. And yet, they had some affinity for Jesus. As disciples, it's called. Here's my point. Never ever write off people just because you think, you know, they're so well off and so well known and so prominent.
They don't need Jesus or they don't see their need for Jesus. You'd be surprised.
Some of the loneliest quotes I've ever read have been by the most prominent people. I learned something years ago from Billy Graham. I wrote it down. He said that. These are things that are true of any audience he ever speaks to, and he reminds himself of that before he speaks.
Number one, There are people in that audience. whose need is not totally met by social improvement or affluence. Number two, there is an essential emptiness in every life. Without Christ. Number three, in every audience.
There are lonely people. Number four, in every audience, there are people who have a sense of guilt. And number five. Everyone shares a universal Fear. of death.
Anybody can come. Everybody can come. And though common people hear him gladly, and most. People like us are the ones that follow him every now and then you'll find an exception. There are exceptions to that rule even among people in this body.
wise, noble, prominent, influential, affluent. And these are disciples. Who are they? What's their story? What's their journey like?
First of all, Joseph of Arimathea is mentioned. Let's call him Joe. Because Joseph of Arimathea is a long thing to say. Mm-hmm. Joe Is mentioned in all four Gospels and only in regards to the burial of Jesus Christ.
He was a member of that 71 ruling elder Supreme Court among the Jews. In the Gospel of Matthew, so that you don't have to turn to it, I'll tell you, Matthew says Joe was a rich man. And that he had become a disciple. of Jesus Christ. In Luke's Gospel, it tells us that.
Job was a good and a just man.
Now the Bible doesn't just throw those words out unnecessarily. Those two words, good and just, one describes an inward condition, one describes an outward condition. He had the inward Constitution that would lend itself to doing good things outwardly, and it's because he had a good heart, a changed heart. He was a disciple. Luke also tells us that Joe, Joseph of Arimathea, That Job was waiting for the kingdom of God.
That is, he was a scholar who perused the Old Testament scriptures and lived in anticipation of the deliverer who would come to the Jewish nation. He had that hope. You're listening to Connect with Skiff Heitzig Weekend Edition. Before we return to Skip's teaching, what would your life look like if God's fingerprints were all over it? In God Print, The Life of Abraham, Pastor Skip takes you through seven powerful messages on the faith journey of one man who learned to trust God through crisis, fear, and uncertainty.
Abraham's life was shaped by God, and so can yours be. The God Print Seven Message Series is our thank you for your gift of $50 or more today to support the worldwide ministry of Connect with Skip Heitzig. Your support helps reach more people with verse-by-verse teaching of the Bible so they can connect with God's timeless truth.
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Now let's get back to today's teaching with Pastor Skip. John tells us, and you just read it. He was a secret disciple. You see, Joe was like a lot of young Christians. afraid of the opinions of others.
A lot of us are like that. We can relate to that. Then we come to Nicodemus, right? He's next in this little scenario. Um Nick, we can call him Nick.
And since he came at night, I guess he's Nick at night. You like that? That was free. Nicodemus is mentioned only in the Gospel of John, and every time he's mentioned, It says Nicodemus, he was the one that came to Jesus at night. Every time you read about him, it tells you again he came at night.
So if you forgot from last chapter, oh. He came at night.
Now a lot of people wonder why did he come at night? Here's the answer. I don't know. And you don't know. Because the Bible doesn't tell anybody.
And we can guess, maybe he was afraid. He could have been scared. He was notable. He was. Wealthy, he was prominent, he could perhaps not have wanted to be noticed.
He was scared. Or, perhaps, It was just practical. Jesus always had crowds around him during the day. Nicodemus was busy, During the day, nighttime is the best time to have a one-on-one, face-to-face, eyeball-to-eyeball conversation with Jesus. The issue isn't that he came at night.
The issue is that he came at all. You know, a lot of people will snub people who come to Christ for what they perceive as not the purest motivation. I've heard it before.
Well, they only came to Jesus because they got a divorce.
So?
Well, they only came to Jesus because they were in physical pain.
So?
Well, they only came to Jesus because, so what? All of those situations merely get us in touch with our need to depend. Whatever drives you to Christ is great. And so he came to Jesus at night. For whatever reason.
But now He steps out of the shadows. Nick at night is now Nick during the day. Comes with spices and aloes to bury the body of Jesus. I will say that it's a little bit sad. That Nicodemus couldn't have showed his love to Jesus while Jesus was alive, but he waits till Jesus is dead.
Now it's a good thing he's doing, don't get me wrong. But what Nicodemus did is what a lot of people unfortunately do. They don't give in life, but when the person dies, that's when the flowers come. Can I just say, if you have any loose ends in any relationships in your life, that you get those figured out as well as you can and send the flowers this week instead of waiting for them to croak. and mourning over it.
Don't give in death what could have been given in life. But back to our point, discipleship is unpredictable. Here's the second thing I want you to notice. Discipleship, following Christ. is gradual.
It's not a light switch. You don't turn it on and become instantaneously perfect. And if you've ever had that expectation of other people or yourself, Relax a little bit. Back off a little bit. Both of these men It seems we're secretive.
At first. They were secretive. At first. Now, I'm going to have you turn to a passage in Scripture in John. In just a moment.
And Here's the deal. John writes about secret disciples, but whenever he writes about him, he doesn't speak too. favorably about them. And I want you to see, and I want you to think about who he might be speaking about. Go back to John chapter 12.
Just a few chapters. John 12. Two verses, and that's it. Same author. Same book.
John twelve Verse forty two Nevertheless, even among the rulers, that is, the Jewish rulers, the religious authorities. Nevertheless, even among the rulers, many believed in him. But because of the Pharisees, they did not confess him. lest they should be put out of the synagogue. Who do you think he has in mind when he writes that?
Can't be sure, but from my reading now of John 19, I suspect he's thinking of Joseph of Arimathea, who was part of that council, and Nicodemus, who was also part of it. What were they afraid of? They were afraid of getting kicked out of the synagogue. Apasynagogos is the Greek term. It's an official term of being excommunicated, which.
Which would effectively end a person's social life for good. You can just write it off. You will have no standing, no social life, no professional life in Israel if you, as this member of this group, Are Apasunagogas, excommunicated. The Babylonian Talmud. List 24 infractions by which a person can get kicked out of the synagogue for, one being, If you don't abide by the decision of the council, in other words, if you disagree with us, we might just kick you out.
So They're in the shadows, they're behind the scenes, they're not making it vocal. They seem to love this Jesus and be drawn to him and have anticipated him and believe in him. But they're afraid. of the Jews.
Now listen to John's comment, verse 43. For they loved The praise of men more than the praise of God. Here's the problem. These, whoever they are, let's believe that he is writing about Joseph and Nicodemus. Both of these are trying to do something that is impossible to do.
for any length of time, and that is be a secret disciple, a secret follower. I'm a secret agent Christian. and I've never blown my cover. You can't carry that on very long. Listen to William Barkley, he writes these words.
Christianity is something which is meant to be seen. There can be no such thing as secret discipleship, for either the secrecy destroys the discipleship. or the discipleship destroys the secrecy. A man's Christianity should be perfectly visible to all men. But they're afraid.
And they're afraid because they love the praise of men more than the praise. of God. Think about that. What does it mean to love the praise of men more than the praise of God? We all know exactly what that means.
Here's the deal: all of us want to be liked. Is that right? We want to be loved by people. Nobody likes to be the odd man out. Sure, please.
Go ahead and hate me and persecute me. I'll be the person. Nobody likes that. Everybody likes to be loved and accepted in a peer group. That's where discipleship is dangerous.
Because not everybody in the peer group will agree with you about your stance for Christianity.
So, the temptation is for you to compromise that a bit, and eventually, perhaps, possibly, like these two guys. live two different lives. The life you live at church. and the life you live at home and in the world. Can't be done for very long.
Love the praise of God or the praise of men more than the praise. of God. At the same time, I don't want to press too hard with this because I'll admit to you, there have been times I get scared. Of situations and people that I'm confronting or are confronting me in the world. There's an intimidation factor.
So let me just make it easy. Do yourself a favor and starting today Ask the Lord. For boldness. Ask the Lord. To fill you with his spirit and give you a measure of boldness that you haven't had before.
Yeah. In fact, Even think of it this way. We live in a day and age. where everybody seems to be getting bold about their cause. We live in a politically correct environment.
You're told to tolerate anyone and everything, every aberrant sexual behavior. They're even told to come out of the closet, be proud of who they are. Make it vocal.
So I'm saying, okay, fair enough. Let's even the playing field. There's a lot of Christians who are still in the closet. Come out of the closet, Christians. Don't be afraid of saying, I'm a believer.
This is what I love. Ask the Lord for that measure. A boldness.
Now, let's get back to our story. I see progress with these two guys. Yeah, sure, they're in the shadows. Sure, they're afraid.
Okay, they love the praise of men more than the praise of God, who doesn't at some point in their life. And yet, Now, at least. Here They're stepping out into the light and making themselves known, making a request of Pilate. You know what this would do? For Nicodemus and Joseph to come to Pilate and make this request and bring the spices.
it would automatically mark them. with their peers. Oh, that's why in chapter 7 of John they would think Nicodemus stood up for Jesus. Oh, they're really disciples of Jesus all along.
So they're placing themselves in danger. Also, it's dangerous to go to Punch's pilot. as a Jewish leader. I think Pontius Pilate has had enough of Jewish leaders at this point. And they're asking for the body of what Pilate would consider a rival king.
So they're exposing themselves to danger. But here's my point. Yeah, these guys aren't perfect. but they're making progress. Discipleship is gradual.
That's all God asked for. Just make progress. He's not asking for perfection because, guess what? You'll never make it. But make progress.
2 Peter 3:18. Grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Colossians 1, being fruitful in every good work. Increasing in the knowledge of God. That's all God is asking for.
Not perfection. Just progress. Just grow. Thanks for listening to Connect with Skip Heidzik. Before you go, don't forget to request this month's resource, GodPrint, The Life of Abraham.
This powerful seven-message study from Skip-Heitzig shows how God's presence shaped one man's life and how he can shape yours. It's our thanks for your generous gift of fifty dollars or more to support this ministry. Call 800-922-1888. That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate.
And while you're there, sign up for Skip's weekly devotional email to grow deeper in your walk with Christ. We'll see you next time for more verse-by-verse teaching of God's Word here on Connect with Skip Heitzigsig Weekend Edition. Make a connection never before. Of the crossing cast over. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of connection communications, connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
