Good Morning,
When Pastor Dean came to me a few weeks ago and asked if I would be interested in preaching my first sermon today, humbled is the first word that came to mind. I somewhat understood the weight of what he was presenting me, and I also knew God was using him with this opportunity. You see, there is nothing special about me; I am simply a man with a heart for God. Pastor Dean has seen much of my growth in recent years; he even boldly asked me recently, “Well are you called to be a pastor or not?” Big question! When we got together to discuss today, I told him I knew God has placed a sermon on my heart that was dying to get out. I knew the title of it; You don’t have to go to seminary to be a disciple.
What is a disciple? Webster’s Dictionary defines it as one who accepts and assists in the spreading of the doctrines of another. The Latin root word is from learner, or pupil. The word “disciples” is found 234 times in the New Testament. Surely Christ would want the most learned, or religious people as his disciple’s right? No, just the opposite; He took the dredges of society and made them his apostles. All throughout the entire Bible, those that seemingly were failures in life; all those that held no regard by the standards of the world; all these were chosen by God to do great things and draw glory and honor to Him as a result of His work through them. Those who held themselves in high regard in their pride were those that suffered His wrath at the hands of His humble servants.
1 – What do you want from God?
The most common answer is to hear from Him. We feel that if we could audibly hear his voice, all would be well in our soul. When Elijah needed encouragement, he sought earnestly to hear God’s voice; it came not in the storm, but in the peace of the stillness. 1 Kings 19:11-12 Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord,. “ And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.
Elijah was fleeing for his life; he was seeking God’s Will with his life. He was dedicating his life to the pursuit of God and the things of God. The term disciple is not used in the Bible for Elijah, but the definition of a disciple can easily apply. If we say that we are wanting more from God, or more directly to hear from God, what are we doing in our lives to pursue Him?
So many things in the world serve as distractions from keeping our eyes and hearts focused on Christ. If we all were to sit down and write out our daunting “to do list”, it would likely consist of work, family, recreation, and seemingly endless responsibilities and pleasurable pursuits. We struggle to find time for God; where does He go on the list? Does He even make the list?
We must come at some point to the realization in our Christian lives that we are to live our temporal lives with an eternal focus; that we come to realize that the God of the universe pursued us; we did not “find Christ”, we responded to that tug on our souls that He placed there. The God of the universe wants us to spend eternity with Him so much that He became flesh and died a horrible death to pay our sin debt due. Just grasping a small portion of the AWE in that understanding will alone move your heart to discipleship.
Christ uses the analogy of the Sheppard in the New Testament. He speaks of himself as the Good Sheppard, and those that are his sheep will know his voice. John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. Christ speaks of the eternal security of those sheep that know Him in that passage in John. Those sheep that spend their lives with him daily under his care, come to know and trust him with their lives. A good Sheppard will never fail them, never leave them, and will lay down his life for them. Are you spending enough time with Him to hear his voice?
2 – Does your life reflect a pursuit of Him?
The alarm clock goes off; maximum sleep, minimal time to prepare for the duties of the day. Down to the minute every day just to meet the demands of the day. Fly out the door, the day disappears into evening, and the bed is calling your name for you know how early the alarm comes again. Exhausted…you sleep….Satan smiles at the busyness of the day. We were not created for this lifestyle we live today; we are truly out of control in this 4G world of immediate satisfaction, and endless demands upon us with the technology age. We are always connected, always available, always following the lives of others in social media. Our brains never seemingly slow down to have time for God….Satan smiles….
Do you pursue God and the things of God more than just Sunday alone? Does your life reflect your faith? Do those around you know that you are a Christian? Do they want to know more about becoming a Christian as a result of your daily life? We will never attain perfection, but we are to pursue it and let God work out Sanctification in us. Christ started his sermon on the mount with the Beatitudes; the simple list of how to live our lives and the blessings that came as a result of it. Matthew 5:6 Blessed are those that hunger and thirst for righteousness; for they shall be filled.Is that desire welling up inside of you? Do you want more of God and the things of God: Do you want to live your life as a better person resting under the grace that He has given you at Calvary?
Christ continues his sermon on the mount and addresses many of the topics of sin and struggles that may face. He addresses the topics of prayer and fasting and of how we are to conduct ourselves in both. He speaks of our focus on wealth; sadly in our society here today, much of our focus is on the wealth and material gains. We have placed all our energies into the pursuit of earthly treasures; forsaking the eternal rewards of a heart focused on the serving Christ. The pursuit of treasures here bring with them the struggles of anxieties rooted in fear. Matthew 6:25-34 speaks directly to those who struggle with anxieties and fear. It is in that passage that is found the scripture for where we are to model our daily pursuit of God. Matthew 6:33 Seek Ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all of these things shall be added unto you.
3 – What does God want from us?
What were Christ’s last words to his disciples as he ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of God? The passage in Matthew 28 is known as the Great Commission; Christ’s last, most important words that summarized what he expected from those he was leaving behind. Matthew 28:19-20 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
Wow. His last words to them, and us, are to go and make disciples. Do you see the importance of discipleship? Do you understand that you cannot make a disciple, if you are not one yourself? How can we follow the Great Commission if we are not living it out in our daily lives? You cannot become a teacher, until you have become a student.
If God wants us to become disciples, we must understand that it comes with a cost. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Christian German theologian at the time of WW2. He wrote an incredible book titled The Cost of Discipleship, for he truly understood the cost. He had returned to his homeland to aid his fellow Christians in the face of persecution by Hitler, and paid for that decision with his life in a concentration camp. He wrote of “cheap grace and costly grace”. He defined cheap grace, and I quote, as “the justification of sin, without the justification of the sinner. Grace alone does everything, and so everything can remain as it was before. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross; grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate”. (end quote) These are very hard words to hear in today’s society still; many a sinner have been led down these roads of Hyper Grace, of filling out the cards and continuing on in lifestyles of sin. This gospel has become watered down and weak.
Bonhoeffer defines costly grace as” the treasure in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has; it is the call of Jesus at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows Him. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it costs God the life of His Son.”
Christ openly told his disciples of the cost of following him. The weight of the call of God is and should be evident on all our lives today, just as it was 2000 years ago with them. When Christ approached and beckoned on their hearts, they forsook everything immediately and followed him. The fishermen dropped their nets and the tax collector left his table. Christ told them of the costs of discipleship in Luke 9:23-25 Then he said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?” Loose our life? Take up our cross? Are we to become martyr’s ourselves? What are we to do?
4 – What is your focus in life?
The measure of your faith, the measure of your relationship with your Savior, the measure of your discipleship, is found in the honest answer to that question. That simple question should instigate spiritual self-reflection. It may be a painful process, but it can carry eternal reward. The apostle Paul in his letter to the Colossian church pointed them to look into the eternal rewards, and not the religiosity of the present age. Colossians 3:1-2 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. It truly is that simple; focus on what lies for you with Him in eternity, and not for the temporal pleasures or pains of the day. But what is the application side of a life with an eternal focus? How does that eternal focus play out in my day-to-day life?
If you are living with a worldview; looking at your day and your life through the lens of achievement and self-worth, you are consumed with the next item on the list to meet the goal. You pursuits are defined by your achievements and you find yourself never satisfied. You live in constant pursuit of something.
A life with an eternal focus sees life much differently. Personally I can describe my faith in one word: Peace. That peace does not mean that my life is a life of ease; it does not mean that I do not get worked up with the stresses of life just like you. I have shared of my struggles with anxiety and depression, and we all have our demons we battle. But my life changed when I started to read my Bible every day. I was raised in a Christian home, but at some point I came to believe that the key to heaven was found in the church pew on Sunday. After a time of rebellion and running from God, I went back to church. I repented and Christ came into my life. I wanted more, and I wanted to start reading my Bible every day. That conscious effort through the work of the Spirit living inside me, and the power of God’s Word, my life, and my focus in life, moved to becoming a disciple. I began to model my life after Matthew 6:33 Seek Ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. My heart now lies in encouraging other Christians to begin this pursuit also; to live their lives with that eternal focus.
You must understand that the Spirit living inside of you yearns to open the truths of God’s Word to you. The Spirit is whom opens the truths of God to you; you cannot understand the Bible without Him. 1 Thessalonians 2:13 But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. I love how my Bible commentary puts this: “Their salvation was accomplished by the Spirit when they placed their faith in Christ, yet note the balance of the Spirit and truth (the Word). The Spirit without the Word is mute; He has nothing to say. The Word without the Spirit is lifeless; it has no power to act. The work of the Spirit is always united with the work of the Word to convict the believer of the truth.”
Picture your Salvation as a ship, with the Spirit as the sail, and the rudder as the Word. Both of them guide you towards the land of discipleship, and neither can get you there alone.
Christ was to show his power in you. He wants to show a life transformed in you to others to draw others to Him. There is no excuse, no reason; no way you cannot be used by God. Listen to this list of what the world would call failures, and God would call disciples.
- Noah was a drunk
- Abraham was too old
- Isaac was a daydreamer
- Jacob was a liar
- Leah was ugly
- Joseph was abused
- Moses had a stuttering problem
- Gideon was afraid
- Samson had long hair and was a womanizer
- Rahab was a prostitute
- Jeremiah was too young
- David was an adulterer (not to mention a murderer)
- Elijah was suicidal
- Isaiah preached naked
- Jonah ran from God
- Naomi was a widow
- Job went bankrupt
- John the Baptist ate bugs
- Andrew lived in the shadow of his big brother
- Peter denied Christ
- All the disciples fell asleep while praying (and ran away when Jesus really needed them.)
- Martha worried about everything
- The Samaritan woman was divorced (more than once)
- Mary Magdalene was demon-possessed
- Zaccheus was too small
- Timothy had an ulcer
- Paul was a Christian-killer
- Oh…and Lazarus was dead
Satan wants to convince you that you are unqualified for any of God’s work. He wants to remind you of all of your past failures in life; he wants to remind you of all the sin in your life; he wants to hammer you with fear every time you come close to stepping out in faith. He may even use the tactics of busyness that we have discussed. All these thins that are of thie world are from the ruler of this world. In the preparation of this sermon, I have endured the attacks of the enemy on so many fronts. In your pursuit to become a disciple you should not expet a pathway of ease either; Satan will come at you in many ways to draw your attention away from what Christ has called you to become. Are you willing to run this race as Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 9:24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. Are you willing to endure for the eternal prize that awaits you? When that day comes, and you stand before God, are you fearful of how you lived your life? Satan is a work in you in that fear. You can start today living your life differently, you can start pursuing God and the things of God with a vigor you have never had before. You can change the rest of your days for your time hear and into eternity in your pursuit of becoming a disciple. The ultimate goal of our lives is defined not only in heaven, but standing before Him with our gift of a life sacrificed for Him for our short time here. Should we not live our lives in the pursuit of hearing those words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
KEY POINTS that I hope you will keep from this message:
Christ called us to become disciples.
We cannot be a disciple without a heart focused on Him as the priority in our life.
We must understand a requirement of discipleship is self-sacrifice.
We must understand a requirement of discipleship is devotion.
We must understand a requirement of discipleship is spending time in His Word.
We must make a daily conscious effort to pursue Him in his word.
A disciple that lives their lives in this manner, is a person who hears the voice of God, and follows Him.
Isn’t that what we really wanted all along?
Let us pray.
oneminuteministry 