Last week I spoke about the importance of unity in the life of the church. I think of it as my farewell words to the part of the Body of Christ called Gulf Prairie Presbyterian Church. Today I want to speak a farewell word to you as individuals. As you move into the future without an installed pastor, it is a most important word. That word is discipleship. Jesus had a great deal to say about those who would follow Him. So today, I want to share some things about being a true disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The first and foremost thing to understand is that being a disciple is not easy. Jesus put it this way: "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. 25If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. 26And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?" (Matthew 16:24-26 NLT)
If you study your Bible very much you see that God uses all kinds of people. It doesn't matter to Him how old you are, whether you are healthy or sickly, male or female, wealthy or poor, Democrat, Republican or Independent. All He wants is all of you to submit to Him and be His disciple. What He wants of you is that you measure everything you do by His standard, not your standard or the world's standard. A true disciple is one who follows Jesus first and foremost and does so willingly, even courageously at times. And, at times, that means, as I mentioned last week, being a servant of Christ. Gordon MacDonald makes the point that "You can tell whether you are becoming a servant by how you act when people treat you like one."
When we think about discipleship, the first thing we realize is that, as Oswald Chambers said, "Jesus Christ always talked about discipleship with an "if." We are at perfect liberty to toss our spiritual head and say, "No , thank you, that is a bit too stern for me," and the Lord will never say a word, we can do exactly what we like. He will never plead, but the opportunity is there, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:32 NIV)
A disciple is a follower. A disciple is one who willingly follows his Master. We have to understand that discipleship and salvation are two different things: a disciple is one who, realizing the meaning of what Christ's death on the cross means to them, deliberately gives himself up to Jesus Christ in profound and unspeakable thanksgiving.
There is an ancient tale from India about a young man who was seeking God. He went to a wise old sage for help. "How can I find God?" he asked the old man. The old man took him to a nearby river. Out they waded into the deep water. Soon the water was up just under their chins. Suddenly the old man seized the young man by the neck and pushed him under the water. He held the young man down until the young man was flailing the water in desperation. Another minute and he may well have drowned. Up out of the water the two of them came. The young man was coughing water from his lungs and still gasping for air. Reaching the bank he asked the man indignantly, "What did that have to do with my finding God?" The old man asked him quietly, "While you were under the water, what did you want more than anything else?" The young man thought for a minute and then answered, "I wanted air. I wanted air more than anything else?" The old man replied, "When you want God as much as you wanted air, you will find him."
Discipleship begins with your belief in Jesus Christ and what He has done for you on the cross. When you hear the Gospel message and understand it and believe it as truth, then you come to the point of wanting to learn more and go deeper in your understanding of what that means to you as an individual. Then you become a disciple.
The text says, "If you hold to my teaching...." The original text says, "If you remain...." Victor Erdman makes the observation, "Discipleship means discipline. The disciple is one who has come with his ignorance, superstition, and sin to find learning, truth, and forgiveness from the Savior. Without discipline we are not disciples."
There are four elements to remaining in the word. First there is constant listening. That means you must be studying God's word regularly, daily. You cannot listen to the word of God if you do not open its pages and let it speak to you. Having me or someone else read a verse or two on Sundays does not do it. When you come to His word on a daily basis, it is important to ask Him to open your heart and mind to hear His word for you before you begin to read.
Next, to remain means a disciple is constantly learning. You can read, even on a daily basis, and then walk away saying "that was nice," "that was pleasing," "that made me feel good," but if you failed to learn from your reading, you have not grown in your relationship with Christ or in your ability to serve Him as one of His chosen disciples.
The third thing remaining in the Word means is to be penetrated or shaped, by God's word. When His word speaks to you, as a disciple you must let it shape your thinking, your actions, your attitudes. This is the application element of remaining in the word. You can be constantly listening and learning, but if you don't apply your learning to your daily lives, you have wasted your time I mean, would you want to go to a doctor if his attitude was one of, "I've learned lots of good information, I know all there is to learn in the study of medicine; but I've never learned to apply it to my patients." Over my many years of education, I have studied Spanish for two years and German for two years. But I never learned to speak either language. Thus, by not applying what I learned, I now can only say a few words in each language and I can not understand someone else who speaks either one.
The Apostle Paul told Timothy to "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15 NIV) If you constantly listen, learn and apply the truths of God's word, you will be fulfilling the charge that Paul gave to Timothy, you will be learning to "rightly handle the word of truth."
A Chinese boy who wanted to learn about jade went to study with a master teacher. This gentleman put a piece of the stone into the youth's hand and told him to hold it tight. Then he began to talk of philosophy, men, women, the sun, and almost everything under it. After an hour he took back the stone and sent the boy home. The procedure was repeated for weeks. The boy became frustrated - when would he be told about jade? - but he was too polite to interrupt his venerable teacher. Then one day when the old man put a stone into his hands, the boy cried out instantly, "That's not jade!"
You can hear a lot of stories and teaching that sound good and moral and even Biblical - like "God helps those who help themselves." (Can anyone tell me where to find that? Was it 3rd Peter?) Unless you are diligent students of the Bible, unless you remain in the Word of Jesus, you will never know whether what you hear is truly Biblical or not. Consider cult leaders such as David Koresh and the Heavensgate people, the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Mormons, etc. they seem to teach Biblical truths, but upon closer examination, it is a distortion of the truth or only partial truth mixed with false teaching.
There is one last element to remaining in the Word of God. That is the need for obedience. Once you listen and learn and are shaped by what you learn, then you must allow it to continually be part of your life. Obedience to His word is the final act of being a disciple. You could liken it to driving a car. You learn the rules of the road and how to control a car. Then you put it into practice and get out on the road and "what a rush!" You start to feel the freedom and independence that driving the car gives you. But if you forget (or ignore) the rules and say to yourself something like, "I'm free, I can do what I want. I don't need to stop for that red light, I'm in control." The results of ignoring what you have learned can be devastating! So, too, can the results of not being obedient to what you have learned about living for Jesus.
Jesus says in our text, if we remain in His word, we will "Know the truth and the truth will set us free." The first question that comes to mind then is this: What is the truth that we will know? There are many answers to that question, but, as William Barclay points out, "The most comprehensive way to put it is that the truth which Jesus brings to us shows us the real values of life."
You see, it is in the Bible, God's Word, that you can find the true values of life. No other book can provide the guidance that the Bible provides on how to live your life in the most meaningful way, the way that is pleasing to the God of the universe. And how you live your life comes down to how you answer the basic and fundamental question: "To what do I give my life?" People will answer that question in many different ways, but the answer that, as Jesus says, gives abundant life (John 10:10), is that you must give your life to the obedient service of God.
Knowing the truth of God, knowing those things that are of real value for life, is the thing that gives your life stability. Many people have tried to follow the world's wisdom and found it to be a rocky road to follow. They have found themselves tossed about like a rubber raft in a hurricane. When you are faced with moral decisions or ethical choices, there is only one source which will provide the truth and guide you to the best decision, the decision that honors God. This truth is that which stands you on solid ground so that you might know for a certainty that you are doing the right thing, going the right way, serving God in the best possible way.
When you can live your life as a disciple, knowing that you are listening, learning, being shaped by and obedient to God's Word, you are truly set free. First of all, you are set free from fear. If you are living in the Word and walking day by day with Jesus, you need never fear again, because you will never walk alone. And when you are walking through life with Jesus as your guide and helper, you need not fear.
Many of you fear the tyranny of yourselves. You cry out that you have tried to change but just can't do it. You live in fear knowing the thoughts that go through your minds, the ways you sometimes make decisions based on what you want, or what's best for you even when it may be hurtful to others. But when you walk with Jesus, when you listen, learn and obey the commands of Jesus, you need no longer fear yourselves because He is able to change you. Paul reminds you that in Christ you are a new creation. If you are willing to let the Living Lord Jesus be in charge, you can be shaped by Him into a new and loving creation.
The truth of the Gospel sets you free from the fear of other people. Many people live their whole lives in fear of what others will think or say about them. H.G. Wells once said that the "voice of our neighbor sounds louder in our ears than the voice of God." When you are obedient to God, you cease to care about what your neighbor thinks; you only care about what God thinks. Thus you are set free from that fear of what others may think or say.
Finally, discipleship brings freedom from sin. William Barclay says it this way: "there is many a man who has come to the stage when he sins, not because he wants to, but because he cannot help it. His sins, his habits, his self-indulgences, his weaknesses, his irritabilities have so mastered him that, try as he will, he cannot break away from them. Discipleship breaks the chains which bind us to our sins, and enables us to be the person we know we ought to be."
The Prophet Amos quotes God, saying, "I hate all your show and pretense-- the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies. I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings. I won't even notice all your choice peace offerings. Away with your noisy hymns of praise! I will not listen to the music of your harps. Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living." (Amos 5:21-24 NLT)
All too frequently we hear people comment about the hypocrisy one finds in the church. They point out the many people who act so righteous on Sunday at church, but throughout the rest of the week, no one would ever know that they are Christians. That is a sad but, all too often true, charge against the church and many of its members.
It reminds me of the story of the man who was a visitor in a strange city. As he was returning from supper one evening, he noticed a sign in a store front window that read "Chinese Laundry." He made a mental note of the location because he had been away from home long enough to have need of a good laundry. The next morning he arrived at the store with a bag full of soiled clothes. He piled the clothes on the counter before a shocked attendant. "What's that?" the attendant asked. "My laundry," came the reply. "I've always heard that Chinese laundries do excellent work." The startled clerk quickly informed the visitor that the establishment was not a Chinese laundry. "But what about the sign in the window?" "Oh, this is not a laundry, it is a sign shop."
The church sometimes sends out false signals about its purpose. Needy people bring in their dirty laundry only to discover that the cross of forgiveness is only a sign and that the attendants are not equipped to handle soiled lives.
You know something? When you bring God your soiled life and ask Him to forgive you and change you into a disciple of Jesus Christ, He is very happy to do that. The Bible tells us there is rejoicing in Heaven when someone comes to God and seeks to be a follower of Jesus. As you come to Him, seek after Him, follow Him and let Him change and shape your life, you become a disciple. As the church becomes filled with disciples it sends a very different message to those outside the church.
It sends a message of:
As you move into this new phase of life as a church, it is extremely important that you make sure that you are following Jesus as closely as possible. That may mean making some changes in the way you live your life. It may mean making changes in the way you relate to others in the church and in the community. It will definitely mean that you will submit all the choices you make in life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. The Church is here to help people change and discover the stability they can have in their lives through letting Christ be in charge. As more and more of you become true and committed disciples, the kind I have spoken about today, the church - this church - will become a force to be reckoned with, a church that does not send mixed signals. Rather, it will become a Body of believers who are offering the people in the communities we serve the freedom and stability that can be theirs as disciples of Jesus Christ. They will see it in the people, they will want it for themselves.
As I complete my ministry among you next Sunday, I want to encourage you to spend some time this week reviewing your life and trying to see how much of it is under the Lordship of Jesus. If it is not all under His control, you have some important work to do.
Prayer:
Gracious and loving God, thank you for calling us to be disciples of Jesus Christ. May we
always be diligent in our efforts to learn and grow in our relationship with Him in order that we
may be fruitful and know the joy of serving you and being obedient. Set us free as we learn the
truth of your word. In Jesus Name. Amen.
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Sermon December 24, 2007
December 30, 2007 - Guest speaker, transcript not available
Sermon January 6, 2008
Sermon January 13, 2008
Sermon January 20, 2008
Sermon January 27, 2008
Sermon February 3, 2008
Sermon February 10, 2008
Sermon February 17, 2008
Sermon February 24, 2008
Sermon March 2, 2008
Sermon March 9, 2009
Sermon March 16, 2008
Sermon March 23, 2008
March 30, 2008 - Transcript not available
April 6, 2008 - Guest speaker, transcript not available
Sermon April 13, 2008
April 20, 2008 - Guest speaker, transcript not available
April 27, 2008 - Guest speaker, transcript not available
Sermon May 4, 2008
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Sermon May 18, 2008
Sermon May 25, 2008
Sermon June 1, 2008
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Sermon June 15, 2008
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