Bet Sefer
When Jesus was a little boy around six years old, every other little six-year-old Jewish boy went to a local synagogue school called Bet Sefer. Let me hear you say Bet Sefer. It means house of the book. From the days of Ezra a child usually attended Bet Sefer from age 6 to age 10.
And you would attend this school five days a week - from Monday - Friday. There would be a local synagogue Torah teacher who would begin teaching you the Torah. The Torah was the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures - Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
It is said that on the first day of class a rabbi would take honey and cover your slate, your personal chalk board, where you would write. Honey was a sign of God’s favor. There was nothing finer, nothing sweeter, nothing more full of pleasure than honey. And he would rub honey all over your slate. And then he would say, “Now class, lick the honey off the slate and off your fingers.” And so now you also can lick the honey off your fingers. And as you did this the rabbi would say, “May the words of God be sweet to your taste, sweeter than honey to your mouth” (Psalm 119:103). May the words of God be the most pleasurable, the most enjoyable thing you could even comprehend.
And so as a child you were introduced to the Scriptures as there was nothing more enjoyable in the entire universe than tasting, receiving , accepting the words of God and making them a part of your life. This is how Jewish boys were introduced to the Scriptures. From ages 6-10 they would memorize Torah: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. By age 10 they had memorized the entire Torah and completed Bet Sefer.

Bet Talmud
Now the best of the best students would continue on. The next stage was probably called Bet Talmud. Bet Talmud meant house of learning. Roughly from ages 10-14 in Bet Talmud you would memorize the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures all the way to Malachi. OK? By 13, 14 years of age you had the entire Hebrew text memorized. Even today in Jewish seminaries they still do this.
You would also at this age begin learning the Jewish art of questions and answers. Now today in our schools we memorize information that we have to write down on quizzes or exams. So we learn things like 2 plus 2 is? (4). 4 plus 4 is? (8) 8 plus 8 is? (16) 16 plus 16 is? (32). Today teachers love to give tests where the students memorize lists. But in Jesus’ day the rabbis taught you to answer with a question. So the rabbi might say what is 2 and 2? And you could answer what is 8 minus 4 or what is 16 divided by four? OK? So you would begin to learn the Jewish art of answering with questions.
By the way, when Jesus parents comes and find him in the Temple He is how old? (12) And what do they find Him doing? Mark 2:46 says, “they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers.” When it came to Scripture Jesus was the best of the best. He knew how to answer with questions. Why? Bet Talmud.

Bet Midrash
Now, at the end of your study at Bet Talmud, when you were around 13-14 years old, if you are the best of the best, then you would go and present yourself to a well-known respected, powerful rabbi. And you would say, “Rabbi, I want to become your disciple, your talmudeen, your student. Please let me in your Bet Midrash, your house of study.” And so the rabbi would say, “OK.” And the rabbi would ask you lots of questions, to find out if you are the best of the best. Because each rabbi wanted to teach his thinking, his philosophy, his interpretation of Scripture. Do you know what this was called? It was called his yoke. This rabbi wants to know, when he is questioning this possible disciple, “Is this boy able to become a rabbi himself and to teach and spread my yoke?” So the rabbi would ask all kinds of questions.
And if the rabbi believed that you were the best of the best, that you were able to become a rabbi, He would say, “Lech Acharai – Come, follow me.” And you would leave your family. You would leave your family compound. You would leave your village. You would leave the local synagogue where you had been studying. You would leave everything and you would follow that rabbi. You would become a talmudeen, a disciple, a student. You would give your life to being exactly like that rabbi. They would eat the same food in exactly the same way as their rabbi. They would go to sleep and awake the same way as their rabbi. And they would learn to study the Torah and understand God the exact same way as their rabbi. And you would follow him everywhere.
One of the Mishnah rabbis would tell disciples or students, “May you be covered in the dust of your rabbi.” Because you would have a rabbi come to the village and behind him would be these tamudeen following right behind him. And the roads were dusty. So these disciples who closely followed their rabbis would get covered with the dust of their rabbi.
You wanted to be so much like your rabbi that when your rabbi would pick up a piece of straw and put it in his mouth then you would. And you would follow this rabbi everywhere. Because the rabbi believes that you can be like him.
But for some Jewish boys when the rabbis quizzed them they did NOT say, “Lech Acharai – Come, follow me.” But instead they said “Ah, my son, you do know Torah. And you know Torah well. But you are not able to be my talmudeen, my disciple, my student.” So the rabbi would say, “Go, home to your village. Make babies. Pray that they become rabbis. Go home and learn the family business - fishing, farming, carpentry. Because you won’t be studying to be a rabbi.”

Bet-Jesus
Now what was Jesus’ occupation? What kind of job did Jesus have? He was a what? Do you know what? Jesus was a rabbi. 13 times in the New Testament Jesus is called a rabbi (Matthew 26:25,49; Mark 9:5; 11:21; 14:45; John 1:38,49; 3:2,26; 4:31; 6:25; 9:2; 11:8). 41 times He is called a teacher. Only one time is he called a carpenter (Mark 6:3). In Matthew 11:28 Jesus said, “Come unto Me all you who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Now almost all the other rabbis would quiz the students and would choose the ones who were the best of the best of the best. They were the smartest. They were very good at answering questions with questions. But Jesus didn’t do that. He called disciples who had already failed the rabbi test, the rabbi ip-hak shiham. And He said, “Lech Acharai – Come, follow Me ... Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me.” Why did Jesus choose these guys? Because He believed they could become like Him.
And you know what? Jesus wants to be your rabbi. He wants to be your teacher, your master. He wants you to be His disciple, His student, His talmudeen. He is calling you today,“Lech Acharai – Come, follow Me.” It doesn’t matter who you are. It doesn’t matter where you are. It doesn’t matter what company you work for. The most important thing is not how much you can memorize. It’s not about how much you know. It’s all about who you follow. You can be like the rabbi.” And some said, “Yes” and followed Jesus. Others said “No” and would not follow Him.

So what did Jesus tell those who wanted to follow Him? There are seven phrases Jesus gives in the Gospels that say, "If you do this you are My disciples" or "If you don't do this you can't be My disciple."

1. A DISCIPLE LOVES JESUS MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE
Luke 14:26 says, If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. Now this does NOT mean that we should literally hate our relatives. In Ephesians 5:25 it says, "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church. "But it does mean that our love for Jesus should be so strong that in comparison our love for our relatives will seem like hate. Should you love your family? Yes! But love Jesus ten times more!

2. A DISCIPLE IS CONSTANTLY INVOLVED IN GOD’S WORD
In John 8:31 “Jesus said ... ‘If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. Every day you and I eat at least 1-3 meals. If you do not eat for several days you will get weak and even shake. The only people who do not eat are either sick or dead. The same is true spiritually. The word of God is spiritual food. It is like milk, like water, like bread, like honey, like meat ... The only people who do not eat God’s word regularly are either spiritually sick or dead. That is why it is good to develop the daily habit of being in God’s word.

3. A DISCIPLE LOVES OTHER BELIEVERS
John 13:35 says, By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. What kind of love is this? It is more than just being polite and kind. 1 John 3:16 says, Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. By ”laying down our lives” for others, we die to certain things. We may have to sacrifice money, time, plans and things in order to love others better. People can see Christ in our lives only when they see us loving one another.

4. A DISCIPLE REPRODUCES FRUIT THAT REMAINS
In John 15 Jesus said, By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, ... and that your fruit should remain; ... so you will be My disciples. God wants each of us to bear “fruit that remains.” In John 17:20 Jesus prayed for His disciples. He said, “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word. Isn’t that amazing! Jesus was praying for the disciples’ disciples. That includes you and I today.

5. A DISCIPLE DENIES HIMSELF
Matthew 16:24 says, Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. To deny oneself means to say 'no' to self in order to say 'yes' to God. It means that you put God on the throne in the very center of your life. It means denying and forsaking anything that hinders your walk with God (Luke 14:33). It means “seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33).

6. A DISCIPLE TAKES UP HIS CROSS DAILY
In Luke 9:23, Jesus said..., "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me. Before Jesus chose the 12 disciples another Judas of Galilee gathered a small army to overthrow the Romans. But the Romans defeated them and hung them on crosses all along the Galilee roads so every-body could see. So when Jesus told His followers to take up their cross and follow Him, they knew it meant total commitment. In fact, except for Judas and John the other ten disciples were all killed for their faith. To be a true disciple we must freely admit we are a followers of Jesus.

7. A DISCIPLE FOLLOWS CHRIST
In Mark 8:34 Jesus said to them, Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me. The Hebrew word for disciple, limmud, is only found once in the OT. The Greek word for disciple is, mathetes, and is used 269 times in the NT and there only in the Gospels and Acts. Both of these words mean a “taught” or “trained” one. Becoming a disciple of Jesus does not happen automatically. It’s a training process. Christians follow the Lord by (1) imitating His life and (2) by obeying His commands. Are you following Jesus? Are you copying Him?

I encourage you to make Jesus your focus, to catch up and get close to Him again, to walk right behind Him. And then may you be covered in the dust of the Rabbi.