October 26, 2009

"Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:16-20

If you have been following this blog you know that we have been doing an examination of discipeship based on these words of Jesus known as The Great Commission.

So far we have discovered that disciples are fully devoted to Jesus and have faith in Him. That faith is evidenced by their faithfulness. fully devoted disciples are also followers of Jesus. They follow Him fully, above all else that is sacred and important to them. And fully devoted disciples of Jesus are fearless because they live in His power and His presence. It does not mean that they are never afraid it means that they don't let fear nullify their faith.

What else do we need to learn about disciples of Jesus? Is there more that we can draw from these verses expressing the words of Jesus?

Yes, there is also clear evidence that fully devoted disciples not only are faithful and followers and fearless but they are focused. They know exactly what they have to do. They are crystal clear who they need to please. They have no doubt where they need to go. They understand why they live and what the purpose of their life is. They know what their destiny is and what their legacy needs to be.

We are having this conversation because these eleven guys became clear in their focus. While they had struggled a bit with their identity and their purpose before, you don't see that happening henceforth.

Focus is the difference between a flashlight and a laser. A flashlight will show you the way, a laser can start a fire.

Fully devoted followers, true disciples, are focused on accomplishing the Great Commission in their lifetime. That focus clarifies their purpose for living, their priorities, their principles, the partners they will choose, the pals they will hang out with, the path they need to follow and the productivity of their days and price they will need to pay.

Are those things clear to you? Is your life a spark, a candle, a flashlight or a laser?

What is the primary focus of your life? What are you living for? What are you willing to die for?

What will you be remembered for?

If you are not focused you are not fully devoted.

October 25, 2009

"Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:16-20

What does it mean to be a disciple? Jesus gives a clear call to His disciples to make disciples. So, it seems to me that this is a top priority of Jesus and we'd best consider it important as well.

For the past several days we have been examining the claims of discipleship. Fully devoted disciples put their faith in Jesus as evidenced by their faithful living. And, fully devoted disciples are those who fully follow Jesus above their families, their fortunes and their futures.

Ready for another criterion of a fully devoted disciple of Christ?

Disciples who are fully devoted are fearless. Well, not totally fearless. They fear God. They fear disobeying Him and disappointing Him. But beyond that, in fact, because of it they are fearless. Because they fear God they don't fear man.

How does that happen? If I have fear does that mean I am not a disciple? No, it just means you are not yet fully devoted.

Devoted to what?

Devoted to Christ's promises. His promise of power - "All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me".... - and His promise of presence - "And surely I am with you always even to the end of the age."

Let me ask you something. If you have the power of Jesus and the presence of Jesus, what is there to be afraid of?

If you do a study of the disciples you can notice that the longer they followed Him, the more boldness and the less fear they displayed. In the events leading to the passion of Christ and during those fateful hours, we see fearful followers. In the hours following the crucifixion of Jesus we see fearful followers. Understandably.

But following the resurrection and following the ascencion of Jesus, we see an increasing boldness evidenced in their actions and attitudes.

Could it have to do with His promises of power and presence? I think so! It works for me! History records it worked for them.

Fully devoted disciples are convinced of His power and are committed to receiving it and living in it. Have you received His power? The power resides in His Spirit. Do you have His Spirit? It is not "a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind".

Fully devoted disciples are convinced of His presence. In His presence they "live and move and have their being". His presence is found in the Word, through obedience, through surrender to His Spirit, and in prayer.

Let me ask you again, if you have His power and His presence what is there to fear? The disciples became fully devoted to His power and His presence and became fearless. Their boldness transformed the world.

When Paul wrote to the Roman, "If God be for us, who can be against us" how do you think he knew that?

Hey, disciple of Jesus, how is your fear factor? Are you living in His power? Are you living in His presence?

October 24, 2009

"Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:16-20

I am examining what it means to be a disciple and what it takes to be one.

In my lost post I wrote that it takes faith to be a disciple - faith in Who Jesus is. The evidence of faith is faithfulness.

Today I want to touch on another aspect of discipleship. In addition to faith, discipleship requires following. These eleven men followed Jesus and they followed Him fully. What do I mean by that? Following Him fully means following Him only. It means throwing all the weight of your hopes for the future and all the weight of your trust in Him.

They stopped following their families and started following Him. Is it wrong to love your family? Of course not! God commands that! Is it wrong to be devoted to your family? No way! Your family is a sacred trust from God! But, disciples follow Christ and are more devoted to Him than to their marriage or to their family. That is following fully. When discipleship is done properly, you will become a spouse, parent, child, or grandparent because you are fully devoted to Christ. When you follow Christ you will lead your family.

They stopped pursuing their fortunes and started following Him. They left their boats on the shore and walked away from their nets, when they began following Christ. Everyone of the disciples left their jobs and cast their fortunes with Jesus. That is following fully.

Yes, but, Brad, they didn't have 401K's and profit-sharing and health insurance that they had to walk away from! No, and neither do you. You just need to trust Jesus more than you trust all those things. Fully devoted followers make Him their security and trust Him for their future.

They gave up their future dreams and personal agendas to follow Him. Everyone of these original disciples were busy carving out their futures when Jesus called them. These were not idle people. They were not deadbeats. They had things to do and schedules to keep and futures to build. But when Jesus called, they left it all. They followed fully.

I fear that today's version of discipleship has morphed into how we can shape Jesus around our future and our agenda rather than how we can fully follow Him. Fully following Him means that we shape our future and our fortunes around His agenda, His values, and His mandate.

A disciple is a fully devoted follower of Christ. Are you fully devoted to Him? Have you fully thrown all of your hopes and dreams and trust on Him?

October 23, 2009

"Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Mattthew 28:16-20

During this month of October I have been examining this portion of Scripture called "The Great Commission". These famous last words of Jesus are significant for a number of reasons, primarily because of Whose words they are! They are the words of the Word!

For the last several posts this month I want to focus on discipleship since being a disciple and making disciples is the point of this mandate. These instructions were given TO disciples who are told to MAKE disciples. If it is that important, and it is, we'd best know as much about it as we can.

First of all, discipleship is about faith. You can't be a disciple if you don't believe that Jesus IS the Son of the Living God, the second Person of the Trinity. He was the "Word Who became flesh and dwelt among us".

He wasn't just a great rabbi, although He was a great teacher. He WAS the teaching. He WAS the truth. Do you believe that? If you don't believe that you cannot or will not be a disciple.

These eleven men believed that and staked their lives upon it. They believed it when they left their homes and their jobs to follow Him and they still believed it after three years of living with Him.

He wasn't just an effective communicator, He was the voice of God! When He spoke, God spoke. What he spoke and what He taught wasn't opinion it was the law. When Jesus said something it was to be debated it was to be done! Do you believe that? If you don't believe that you can't be a disciple.

These eleven men had been around. They had heard the other rabbi's and teachers who came through the area with their teachings but they had never heard One like Him. They invested their fortunes and their future in Him. They were disciples because they disciplined their lives around Him based on Who He was.

He was just a miracle-worker, He WAS the miracle! How can God become man? How can a vast and infinite Being put on flesh? How can He be limited in time and space? It was a miracle. How can a man be morally perfect and pure and then live for over thirty years in an evil world and remain morally pure, even though He was tempted by the devil himself! It was miraculous!

These eleven men believed that before they saw it and they saw it and believed it more! That's faith! Their faith made them faithful, so they showed up at the mountain in Galilee to see Jesus one more time.

Discipleship is putting faith in God. Discipleship is having so much faith in God that you live faithfully. That's what these guys did and they did it because they understood Who Jesus was.

He was more than a great teacher, more than a great preacher, and more than a powerful change agent. He was - and is God!

Disciples are first of all, people of faith and that faith is proved by faithfulness.

Do you consider yorself a disciple? How is your faith? How faithful are you?

October 22, 2009

"Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:16-20

It doesn't take a lot of people to change a situation, but it does take committed people, and it takes united people, and it takes people with a plan.

You would have thought that after three years of powerful revolutionary ministry, Jesus would have had a large following. If everyone He preached to and touched and healed would have followed Him there would have been thousands. If just the people He miraculously fed would have followed Him that would have been 9,000 or 10,000!

But following His death and resurrection and at this moment prior to His ascencion, here He was with eleven guys! Now, we know there were more because on the Day of Pentecost there were 120 in the Upper Room. But these were His "go to guys". And history records that they got it done! Otherwise, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

I think we get easily intimidated and feel that we are outnumbered. We look at large churches or other mass movements and feel inferior. Sometimes we wonder what is wrong with us? Why aren't we larger?

There was none of that on this occasion as they met Jesus at a familiar place on the mountain in Galilee. They were not focused on what they didn't have or what they needed or what was wrong with them. They focused on one thing - Jesus and His command.

As they worshiped and as they heard Jesus' words, they became aware of some powerful tools they possessed:

Commitment! They were fully committed and engaged in carrying out the Command that He had given them. They didn't vote on it. It wasn't a multiple choice. They didn't wait for a better offer. They didn't try to negotiate. No, they heard the mandate and went and began a movement.

It doesn't take a lot of committed people to start a movement. One thing I discovered being part of several large churches is that a large church is just a collection of smaller committed groups of people. If there are 1,ooo people in a church, maybe 500 of them will be committed - maybe less. At least half of them are along for the ride. And that number of committed people meet in small groups or ministry teams to carry out their commitment.

Unity! These eleven men were committed TOGETHER to carry out the mission that Jesus had given them. Now, understand that unity doesn't mean total agreement. It says in these verses that some doubted. We don't know if that means two or ten, but clearly there were within this group differing levels of confidence in the mission. But, those who were lacking in faith did not seek to hinder the mission. They drew strength from those who were more sure rather than tryng to spread their doubt.

It is not unusual to have varying levels of commitment, talent, faith, spiritual maturity, intelligence, and experience within a group of people. In fact, that is the norm and that is what makes a small group effective. When the variety of people come together and commit to a common mission or goal, they lift and strength each other. Obviously, on a football team of eleven players you have eleven different skill sets and assignments necessary to accomplish the mission. You certainly don't want eleven quarterbacks! Or any other position for that matter.

Plan. Jesus gave them a strategy. They were to begin in Jerusalem, then move out to Judea, and Samaria and on the the world. Eleven people can do that! They didn't just run off in every direction working in random places. They started in the place they knew with the people they knew and shared what they knew about Jesus. Soon, the eleven was twenty-two and the twenty-two became forty-four and forty-four became eighty-eight, etc.

This is why I am excited about FredWes. I know it doesn't take a lot of people to change a city. It does take committed people and united people and people with a plan. We can do that! We are dong that! We will do that!

And some day, those few of us who God used to begin the movement will look back and marvel at how so few did so much with so little to accomplish so much! It must have been God!

October 21, 2009

"When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations......" Matthew 28:17-19

Have you ever thought about the relationship between worshiping and missions?

I can think of three prominent portions of Scripture that make a direct link between being in God's presence and being motivated by His purpose.

Here is this Scripture, the disciples worshiped and then as soon as they finished worship Jesus came to them and gave them the mandate for missions.

In Acts 1 and 2, we see the same dynamic. They had spent considerable concentrated time in worship and prayer when the Holy Spirit flooded their fellowship. When the presence and the power of God came upon on them they immediately went out and evangelized thousands.

The sixth chapter of Isaiah shows the Prophet catching a view of God high and exalted. When he sees that he falls down and worships. After he worships and cries out to God, the voice of God comes and calls him to go spread the news.

If you take a moment to think about it, when you enjoy worship you would want others to know the joy of worship, too. But those who do not know God cannot worship Him. A reading of the Psalms makes it clear that one of main motives of missions and making disciples is for the purpose of exapanding the worship base for God. He deserves to be worshiped by all of creation. Every nation, tribe and tongue was created with a need to worship. God hard-wired our hearts, minds, and souls to live in worship and fellowship with Him. It is our destiny and our fulfillment.

Therefore, if we have become heir of that joy, why would we not desire others to know they same joy?

What if we suddenly came to realize that the driving force of evangelism should be glory not guilt! If you enjoy worship, you of all people, should desire to see others know God so they can worship Him, too!

If that doesn't move you toward the Great Commission, I don't know what will. When Jesus commanded the disciples to "go into the world and and make disciples" He could have just as well commanded them to "go make worshipers"!

The next time you enjoy worship, think about the billions who can't.

October 20, 2009

"Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go." Matthew 28:16

Some things are obvious by their absence. So are some people.

In this Scripture passage we see the eleven who came to the mountain to meet Jesus according to His request. Did you take notice who wasn’t included in that number? If not, take a quick mental roll call.

Yeah, you’re right, Judas!

Why?

He had hardened his heart. His heart had become so hardened that he became insensitive to Jesus’ voice and immune to His will.

How does that happen? How does someone who walked with Jesus daily for almost three years end up with a hard heart?

There is a one-word answer, disobedience.

If you don’t intend to obey Jesus or to heed God’s Word, the worst thing you can do is hang around God’s Word or His people. Does that sound funny coming from a preacher telling you to stay away from church?

Why would you say that, Brad?

It has everything to do with the power of His Word. The Bible tells us that His Word never returns void. That means every time the Word is spoken or taught, something happens as a result. When you hear the truth of God’s Word you are responsible to obey it. When you hear it and obey the truth it brings you closer to Jesus Who Is the Truth. When you draw closer to Jesus you become more like Him. But disobedience separates you from Jesus and desensitized you to the truth.

The eleven show the value of obeying Jesus, Judas shows us the perils of serial disobedience. Hear the Word, heed the Word, and become holy by the Word. Hear the Word, don’t heed the Word and become hardened.

What will you do with God's voice today? Will you hear it and heed it or will you hear it and be hardened? Judas didn't become a traitor in a day. It took a lot of hearing and a lot of hardening.

Obedience matters. It makes a difference - an eternal difference – the difference between Heaven and Hell.