The difference between a 2D and 3D disciple

Speaker: Matthew Ruttan

January 30, 2022

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Think of a circle, and then think of a ball. One is two-dimensional, and one is three-dimensional. From a distance, they look the same. But the closer you look, the more you notice a difference. One is flat and the other is, well, not flat. You can play basketball with a basketball. You can’t play basketball with a piece of paper.

Discipleship is 3D, not 2D. It includes listening and learning, but goes beyond it to doing, to actually following. As Howard Hendricks says: “Biblically speaking, to hear and not to do is not to hear at all.”

That’s what this sermon on John 1:35-51 explores as a part of our journey through the Gospel of John.

We go through the text and ponder one of the key insights it gives us about discipleship. We might naturally conclude that confidence about who Jesus is results in more faithfulness and obedience, but might miss that the opposite is also true. Obedience increases confidence. In fact, confidence and obedience are mutual accelerants.

You can access the video or audio version of this sermon by the buttons provided in this post. In addition, Pastor Ruttan has been providing additional background to Bible passage that goes along with this sermon as a part of ‘The Pulse Podcast with Matthew Ruttan.’ You can hear that extra content by clicking here.