OK, we have looked at 3 other names for Christian, right.... Friend, New Creation and Forgiven... (I don't know how far we will go with this series, but while the juice is flowing, WHY NOT!!!! On Saturday I went out to get in my car and the windshield was cracked. Security said that it was hit by a golf ball, since I live on a golf course... My first thought was, I really want to find the guy that hit that ball because if he plays that bad, he will really make my golf game look good!... As I thought of this, I realized how often we make choices to either be with people that will never challenge us to do better or be better, or we will choose to be with folks that will stretch us and pur pressure on us to grow and expand. Another name for Christian is Disciple and a disciple is a student or learner....
My scriptural mandate for this message is....
Matthew 28:18 "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. v19 Go therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. v20 Teaching them to adhere to all things that I have commanded you, and always know that I am with you everywhere and in everything, even unto the end of the world. Amen".
Disciples are not only interested in why we are here, they are devoted to while we are here. All you have to do is go to the Key West cemetary and every grave spells out the dash that is life. It is gone far too quickly.... Born 1945 (dash) Died 2010.... Born 1965 (dash) Died 2015 we're all dashing toward the cemetary and eternity, the question is how we spend our dash while we are here. I checked out some of the markers, here's a few of them.." I told you I was sick". and "Ma loves Pa, Pa loves women, Ma caught Pa with two in swimm'n, here lies Pa. "Steve Province (dead steve) Thanks for all the fish".....and then we have "Here lies my wife, I bid her goodby, she rests in peace, and now so do I !! And on the back of another guys tombstone it says,
"Died from not forwarding that e-mail to 10 people"
While we're here, living out our dash, the main assignment Jesus left us to do was to make disciples. There is a difference between a believer and a disciple.
A Russian comedian, Yakov talks about when he first moved to America, he was amazed at the variety of instant products he could buy in the store. There’s powdered milk: just add water and you have milk. There’s powdered orange juice: just add water and you have orange juice. He saw Ramene noodles, just add water and dig in....Then he saw Baby Powder and thought, “What a great country is this America! If you want a baby, just add water!”
Some people think that’s how discipleship works. You take a believer, add a little baptism water or a dab of Holy water and “poof” you have a disciple. But it takes more than water to make a baby and a it certainly applies to disciples.
There is very little cost here, to say that you are a Christian, but If a Muslim comes to receive Christ as savior, they know that there is a sacrifice involved. They know that the moment they become a Christian, their family back in Iran would not just disown them, they would have a funeral for them and consider them to be dead. They are faced with a hard choice, but I'm glad to report that Muslims are coming to Christ by the millions, even though their families persecute them abandon them and declare them dead.... Friend, when God calls you, you have to make some difficult decisions, and sometimes your family and friends will not jump up and down and rejoice over your choices. But you've taken the first step to becoming a true disciple, because you have started on a journey that asks first, "What does Jesus want"...
One little boy went to church with his grandma and they sang a ahymn that said something about “ The cross I bear.” and when he got home , he told his mom that he really liked the song about the cross- *eyed bear, and he said Mom, if I ever meet a bear in the woods, I sure hope it will be one of those cross-eyed bears, so it won't be able to see me very well!
Many Christians are just as confused as that little boy, about what it means to bear our cross. They say stuff like "I have migraine headaches, but I guess it’s just the cross eyed bear, for Jesus.... Someone else will say, I live with the children from hell, but it's just the cross eyed bear, for Jesus.... or I've gone North, but my body's gone South, but it's just the cross eyed bear for Jesus..... Man, that cross eyed bear gets too much credit for all our misery and bad stuff!
Disciples extract the good, learn from the ugly and refuse to play the blame game. And If you're going to procrastinate, then procrastinate with gossip, procrastinate with being critical and procrastinate with negative thinking. Disciples eat the meat and spit out the bones....they don't choke and gag and allow it to ruin their day.
Luke 14:27 And whoever does not take up his cross, (he's not talking about a gold cross on a gold chain around your neck) and come after Me, they cannot be My disciple."
The disciple's cross is a symbol of death, but I wonder how many would look at you funny if you gave them a little gold hangman's noose to wear around their neck or a gold electric chair? (Hey I really like your electric chair, I would like to get me one) In Jesus' day if you saw someone carrying a cross, it meant they were as good as dead. The cross is a message that says in Philipians 1:20 " For me to live is Christ and to die is gain"...Paul, the disciple of Christ, said 1Corinthians 15:31"I die daily"....
Jesus said that He counted it all joy, so stop going around like you're in a funeral procession. Jesus loved to interrupt funerals and give the corpse a reason to live. To a disciple it's exciting to get up and discover "what am I going to die to today"!!!
It means that we're not who we used to be, we have a different purpose in life, we have different values. We don't live to get drunk, or score with some guy or girl that didn't look too good anyway, till we had 5 beers and shots to make them look better.
A country preacher visited New York. He saw all the buildings, the bright lights and the temptations of the city. He was a great preacher, but he had a very apparent lisp. When he returned to his country church he said, "You know thaints, I have theen all these vonderful things today. But didn’t thee a thingle thing I vanted!” For a disciple carrying a cross, the world can’t offer a thingle thing we vant.
When a death row prisoner is walking from his cell to the place to be executed, the other prisoners call out, “Dead man walking.” He’s alive and walking–but he’s as good as dead. That’s a perfect description of what Jesus meant when He spoke of a disciple carrying his cross. It is a kingdom truth, that a dead man is truly free. You won’t be truly liberated until you understand what the cross truly means to every disciple of Christ.....FREE AT LAST, FREE AT LAST, THANK GOD ALMIGHTY WE'RE FREE AT LAST!!!! You can't hurt a dead man... he is free from Fear, worry, insecurity, guilt and condemnation, depression, sickness and disease and even death..... There is a statement in the movie "Braveheart" that says "Every one dies, but not everyone really lives". You never really live until you live like you were dying!
2 Corinthians 4:8 "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair v9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed v10 Always bearing about in our body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. v11 For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh".
My wants and my likes are different in Christ. I'm motivated by different things now, compared to before I surrendered to Christ. My priorities are about what would Jesus do....(and just like you, I'm constantly working on it)
Disciples live a "hands up" life style. A well used statement at a bank robbery is.... "put your hands up"..... robbers know what we need to learn sometimes... You don't tell a bank robber you don't feel like it... The robber said "put your hands up"... so it doesn't matter how I feel... (I'm putting my hands up!) The bible says...Psalms 134:2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the LORD. (When God says put your hands up, I'm putting my hands up!)
When you lift up your hands you're saying "I surrender", which is the hallmark of a disciple. When you lift up your hands, you're raising the standard higher and upping your spiritual game. When you lift up your hands, you're declaring that you are connected to something higher and more powerful than this world. When you're lifting your hands, you're declaring that you're going through, you're going all the way. When you lift up your hands, you're saying that you know the one who knows the answers. When you lift up your hands, you're lifting those around you and bringing them up with you.
Disciples don't just start well, they finish well....Jesus said that if a man starts a building, he will first sit down and count the cost so that he doesn't start and then, can't finish. Many mean well, they're sincere, they're even entheustiastic, but they haven't counted the cost. Jesus has paid in full the price of salvation, but we are told to consider the cost of finishing what we've begun, which means there is a cost. But the cost of obedience is nothing compared to the cost of disobedience. There are a lot of people who begin well, but they are not finishers.
Billy Sunday was the Billy Graham of his generation. He was a former professional baseball player turned preacher. He once said: “Stopping at third and getting no further adds no more to the score than if you had struck out. It doesn’t matter how well you start if you fail to finish.”
The last time I visited my home town, I went by the church where i grew up, and it was boarded up and abandoned. Something inside me felt a twinge of hurt, because someone else would not have the same advantage and opportunities in that church that I had. No one cared to finish what many had started. There came a time when the numbers, the finances, or the lack of pastors, spelled it's doom. The good news is that none of us are finished yet. It doesn’t matter what has happened in the past, you and I can still finish well.
If you were to go to the Super Bowl, you would see 99% of the people there, watching less than 1% of the people do all the work on the field. They buy a ticket , called the offering, and attend the games but they have not gotten on the field to run the ball, block the enemy, coordinate the plays, or line up on the line of scrimage.
I want to look at the rythm of a disciple....I would like everyone to clap with Snow White for a moment..... Very good, we were all able to do that together and on beat, because of the rythm that she set up and you just flowed along with it.... rythm is a very important part of discipleship, because it is about the things that we do every day of our lives.... There is a rythm that is present in all of our lives... it's like the soundtrack of your life....
What I'm saying is that Discipleship is not something in addition to whatever else we do, but it is something intentional that we do while we are doing everything else....Discipleship for every Christ follower, who has received the Lord's mandate to go into all of our world and present the gospel, is something which is an intrigal part of all the other rythms of our lives....
It is part of the rythm of family life, not an addition to it.... It's part of the rythm of eating (you can always get a good group out to church if you serve good homestyle cooking) we eat everyday (sometimes too much) and food is a great way to open dialoge and share God's goodness, faithfulness and love. There's the rythm of responsibilities, which bring us in contact with others who are watching our lives.... The rythm of belonging, as we seek fellowship and friendship with those who share common interests. .....The rythm of celebration, at birthdays, anniversaries, promotions and graduation. The celebration of milestones in our lives together.....How about the rythm of blessing, as we build one another up and encourage and seek to inspire one another.....The rythm of listening which lets folks know they are important, their experiences and their journey is important to hear and to tell...
We could go on and on, but you get the idea.... Discipleship is not something additional to do, but something intentional that we do while we do everything else! Caring for one another, being a friend, serving and supporting....
Horses produce horses, cats produce cats, turkeys produce turkeys, and eagles produce eagles, and it's not unusual at all... Disciples produce disciples as the normal part of their every day lives. A group of psychiatrists were attending a convention which was about the fact that "Psychiatrists have problems too". Four of them decided to leave, and walked out together. One said to the other three, "You know, they're right, people are always coming to us with their guilt and fears, but we have no one that we can go to when we have problems." The others agreed. Then one said, "Since we are all professionals, why don't we take some time right now to hear each other out?" The other three agreed. The first one then confessed, "I have an uncontrollable desire to kill my patients." The second psychiatrist said, "I love expensive things and so I find ways to cheat my patients out of their money whenever I can so I can buy the things I want." The third followed with, "I'm involved with selling drugs and often get my patients to sell them for me." The fourth psychiatrist said, "I can't keep a secret..." and all the others said..OOPS!
I said this to say that "Disciples should be salty"! In the bible, Salt stood for covenant, and trustworthiness. Salt kept things from spoiling or going bad. Salt was very valuable during Jesus’ time. Roman soldiers were paid with salt rations. The Latin phrase “Solarium Argentums” is where we get our word “salary.” Even today we speak of someone who is “not worth their salt.” In the time of Jesus the greatest value of salt was in its use as a preservative. Since they didn’t have any way to refrigerate meat, salt would be applied to fresh meat to prevent the meat from rotting. The salt created a chemical reaction that slowed down the process of decay. It retarded corruption, so as a consequence, it preserved the goodness of the meat. That’s why Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:13“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?”
Let me close with some important keys to being an effective Disciple....
1. Get back to the Word....when everything else is over and done and it's all faded away and perished. .... The word of God will still stand. If you know the truth, the truth in you will still stand when everything around you has fallen and collapsed. The truth will outlast every attack, every error, every phony ballony, and be your rock when all around you is sinking sand!
2. Depend on the Holy Spirit to lead you every day. He is the counsellor, the guide, the referee, the connector, the surrounder that you can depend on, no matter what the situation or circumstance. He will show you Jesus in the storm, in the wilderness, in the untraveled path, on the mountain and in the valley. The only side He will ever take is the Lord's side. He's not prejudice, or partial, or unjust, and if you let Him, He will not fail you.
3. Don't isolate yourself from those who can influence you and who you can influence. Have a circle of folks who can energize you and kick your butt if you need it. Make time for those with the same values and mission, but have friends who are not Christian as well. Don't be a prude! How are you ever going to influence people you never meet? As a disciple of Christ, we understand that all of our relationships have purpose.
4. Stop needing to be perfect. One of the most often used excuses for anyone not doing anything, is their feelings of inadequacy and fear of failing. Hey, this is lifelong learning here! We learn as we go, we learn as we do it.... If anyone tells you different, they're covering their own hide! No one pops out of the womb, ready to do anything but eat, sleep, cry and poop! We come out learning, and that's how it's done! NIKE says, "Just Do It"!!! And if it's good enough for Nike, it's good enough for me!
5. Get out of your comfort zone. We all have our safe places that can be a hiding place that we use to protect ourselves from the unpredictable, the risky, the unjust and frightening things outside of our protected circle. It may be our routines and patterns. It may be our family and our long time friends. It may be our daily responsibilities and obligations that we allow to hold us captive. But the bottom line is really that we will do the things we want to do and we won't do the things we don't want to do. Listen, if someone called me and said, "I want to take you on a cruise next week.... I would find someway to clear my schedule. New and different things don't have to be frightening. They can be exciting new opportunities to connect, learn, grow and develop. We need to get outside our comfort zone, because that's what disciples do!
I know there are many things we could add, but I DIDN'T, so make your own list, and I'm sure it will be a great one!
But let's stand together and own this thing of discipelship in our closing prayer.....Lord Jesus, we’re asking you that our minds and spirits be attuned to your will, that we may understand the way You are working daily in our lives. We receive joy for the journey and strength for each task. Lord we believe that everything begins in you, and finds its purpose in you and that you, sustain and hold all things together. We choose to live intentionally and not accidentally. We choose to live in the peace and love of God, and put on gratitude with a meek spirit. We choose to say yes to You, and we treasure Your word and Your truth. We go forth today, with Your might and strength to uphold us. We receive Your wisdom to guide us, Your eyes to see what is before us, Your ear to hear us, Your word to speak into us, Your hand to guard and protect us, and Your heavenly host to surround us. Thank You that You go with us, before us, behind us, beneath us, above us, and within us. Thank You that you are there when we lie down, when we rise up, when we go out and when we return again. Lead us we pray, until that day when we stand with You in heaven's eternity. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Receive your neighbor's blessing.....turn to someone and lay your hand upon their shoulder and lets declare numbers 6:24- 26...but before we do....tell them what area in your life you need God to bless you....
