Welcome to 2021- The first year where we can legitimately say, hindsight is 2020. We hope that many things that happened in 2020 don’t repeat themselves, but as someone said, “Next year is 2020… to.
How to live in a World that Hates you pt 4 Make Disciples
Acts 1:1-9 The first book I wrote, Theophilus, concerned all that Jesus began both to do and to teach, 2 until the day in which he was received up, after he had given commandment through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 To these he also showed himself alive after he suffered, by many proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days, and speaking about God’s Kingdom. 4 Being assembled together with them, he commanded them, “Don’t depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which you heard from me. 5 For John indeed baptized in water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
6 Therefore when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, are you now restoring the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them, “It isn’t for you to know times or seasons which the Father has set within his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.”
9 When he had said these things, as they were looking, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight.
How do we live in a world that hates us? We are more divided than ever. There is more hostility than ever. Republican vs Democrat, Male vs Female, Black vs White, Liberal vs Conservative, East coast/ vs Midwest, even down to seemingly little things, to pledge allegiance or not, mask vs no mask, vaccine vs no vaccine. And despite the fact that some people believe that magically these issues are going to fade with the passing of 2020, I think they will get worse.
So, in light of that, I proposed some principles from the book of Acts, and Scripture in general, about living in such a world.
I. Love those who hate you
II. Live in an attitude of forgiveness
III. Rely on the Word of God
And today we will move on to the 4th and 5th principles; Make disciples and expect to be rejected.
IV. Make disciples
The Principle, the Narrative, the Reason
1. The Principle-Make disciples
We just read in Acts 1, that Jesus final words to His apostles was that they were to go into the world and be witnesses of Him. The parallel passage to that is found in Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, and John 20.
Matthew 28:18 Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go[b] and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
Mark 16: 15 He said to them, “Go into all the world, and preach the Good News to the whole creation. 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who disbelieves will be condemned.
Luke 24: 45 Then he opened their minds, that they might understand the Scriptures. 46 He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.
John 20: 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples therefore were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus therefore said to them again, “Peace be to you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.”
21: 15 So when they had eaten their breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?”
He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I have affection for you.”
He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?”
He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I have affection for you.”
He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you have affection for me?”
Peter was grieved because he asked him the third time, “Do you have affection for me?” He said to him, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I have affection for you.”
Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.
Interestingly, the only instruction we get from the Lord is baptize, teach,…to observe all things that I have commanded you. It is a very simple instruction for building a movement. There is no complex program, no elaborate organizational structure.
So, as we consider this last directive and how it relates to living in a world that hates you, we ask ourselves the question; Have I followed these instructions? Baptize, teach, and teach all things
Does this characterize our church? If the world is going to increase in its hatred toward us, if evil men are going to get worse and worse, we have to become more focused.
So, what three things are the component parts of disciple making? Baptism, teaching, and teaching all things.
A. Baptize
What does it mean that we are to baptize? This is especially important because traditionally in our denomination, the only person who baptizes is the preacher. That is changing. Some of you have probably been to services where others in the church can baptize; Elders or deacons, some have parents baptize, or someone who had a significant hand in that person coming to faith. I have no objection to that practice as long as two things remain in place; first, baptism must remain an ordinance conducted by the local church- I don’t believe in going down to the river and just baptizing any who come, without connecting them to this church. Because baptism, the Great Commission, is part of discipleship. And if someone refuses to be a part of a local church, they are refusing discipleship.
Second, if someone besides the pastor were to baptize, it has to be someone who has a spiritual significance, not just because a person wants a particular individual.
I have no problem with that, but let’s say that your church only allows the pastor to baptize. How can I be obedient to the Great Commission?
Let’s broaden the idea that we are to baptize. Let me define that for the individual. Your responsibility to baptize means that you draw someone by your words, actions, and prayers to the point where they will make a commitment to Christ, and follow that commitment with baptism. In other words, you were part of the process.
Not that you are the only one.
Have you done this?” Has your witness resulted in someone, anyone coming to salvation, followed by baptism?
That’s tough. You have to think about the people around you; family and friends, who have been baptized, and ask yourself, “Was I a part of that?”
And I hope that you can think of at least one person who has gone to the baptismal waters, that you were a part of their getting there.
Will every Christian be able to think of someone? Not necessarily. Because of circumstances, you will not know that everyone you’ve contributed to spiritually made it to a commitment of their life. And because many people reject the gospel, you may spend a lifetime sharing your faith, with no visible response.
So, I guess the real test is, have you been faithful in sharing your faith?
In Matthew 13, Jesus shares a parable of a sower scattering seed. The picture is of a 1st century farmer, going out into his tilled field, and scattering seed. And what is the chief responsibility of a sower? to scatter the seed. You expect when planting, that at the end of the day, the seed bag will be empty. You don’t want the farmer coming home with a full bag of seed, saying, “I only planted a couple of seed, let’s see this goes, and decide if I will plant more.”
Now, the farmer knows that not all the seed will successfully grow. Some will be choked by weeds and thorns, some will fall on earth that is too shallow to support growth, some will be devoured by birds. But the farmer also knows this,
Matthew 13: 23 What was sown on the good ground, this is he who hears the word and understands it, who most certainly bears fruit and produces, some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty.”
Notice that. The farmer knows that there will be a crop, 30 fold, 60 fold, 100 fold.
And I believe the same is true of a Christian. All true Christians will bear Great Commission fruit. All true Christians will have such an influence on their world, that over their lifetimes, some will come to faith, 30, 60, or 100 fold. A lot of it is out of our control, but part of it depends on how much seed we are sowing.
And I’m not just talking about if you were the one who led them in praying for God’s salvation. I’m not saying that you had to have been the one who opened your Bible to verses about salvation, and personally shared those with a person who followed through with baptism. But were you a part. You were scattering the seed.
Now, I am not intending to bring you to shame. It has been said in preacher circles that there is no quicker way to cause shame in a congregation, than to preach about witnessing, and soul-winning. I feel the same shame.
I don’t intend to bring you to shame, but to a resolve. In the world in which we live, we have to resolve to be more loving, forgiving, meditating on the Word, and discipling.
Back to the question, can you think of someone who has walked into the baptismal waters, in part, as a result of your words, prayers, or actions?
And I’d really like you to give yourself some credit. You have children, grandchildren, Sunday School classes, family, friends, those who you have fellowshipped with in the church, anyone who you’ve influenced. Is it a huge number—probably not.
Paul himself said at the end of his life,
2 Timothy 4:9-11 9 Be diligent to come to me soon, 10 for Demas left me, having loved this present world, and went to Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia; and Titus to Dalmatia. 11 Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service.
I can say myself, the number is small. I think that when we get to heaven, we’ll discover a bigger number.
But my real question for myself is, “Have I been faithful with the seed that I was supposed to scatter?”
B. Teach
To disciple is to teach. You say, “I am not a teacher.” Well let me again simplify this for us all, and I know this is cliqued—I think that you can spell teach, “T-I-M-E.”
You don’t have to be a teacher to teach. It is every Christians responsibility to teach. Not necessarily in an official capacity. Some are gifted as teachers and some are not. Teach means to search for and to follow up on opportunities to spend spiritually rich time with someone. The emphasis here is on “spiritually rich.” To spend time at it.
You see, our second responsibility, after baptism, is to teach. What does that look like? Spending time with someone in Bible reading, prayer, conversation about spiritual things, searching for answers, listening to problems and encouraging spiritually. Pointing out error. Teaching involves connecting the dots between life and eternal life.
Some are involved in what I call an Andrew ministry. The apostle Andrew was known for one thing; he brought people to Jesus. We don’t have many of his words recorded. But when he encountered someone who needed answers, he took the initiative to bring them to Jesus.
You don’t have to know all the answers, but you must be willing to help someone find the answers.
And it may only take place in a single sentence. But it happens all the time, and especially with fellow Christians.
It means purposefully bringing up God, Jesus, the Bible, the Church, in conversation.
Again, I don’t know about you, but this thought causes me shame. It forces me to ask myself, “How many spiritual conversations, even online, have I been a part of this week? Even at church. Or did we just talk about the weather, the news, or what we did over the holidays?
The principle-baptize, teach, and teach all things
C. Teach, all things I have commanded you.
It is our responsibility to cover “all things Jesus commanded” with those with whom we have been entrusted.
All things, let’s make this simple-
Baptize means to help guide someone to a commitment to Christ.
Teach means to spend spiritually rich time with the people around you. Look for opportunities to connect their life to eternal life.
Now, “teach all things that I have commanded you.” Any relationship that we have with another Christian is first a relationship of mutual spiritual encouragement and exhortation. We are supposed to be teaching and being taught “all things” Jesus commanded. Think about that. What does that entail? The gospels? Definitely. The New Testament? Surely, because it is the word of the followers of Jesus describing how we live out what they learned at the feet of Jesus. The Old Testament? Yes, because it is what the disciples and Jesus called “Scripture.” And it is what told us about Jesus before He ever set foot on earth.
So, our commandment is to evangelize people so that they believe and follow through with baptism, and to teach them by word and example everything that is in the Bible.
Everything? The whole Word of God? That’s why one sermon on Sunday is not enough for any Christian. We need time alone in the Word. We need friends who come along side of us and share in the fellowship of the Word. We need family time in the Word.
Are we getting it done? Sadly, no. By way of confession, in many Christian households, mine included, I think the kids are more acquainted with the characters from the T.V. show, “the Office” than they are with the characters on the pages of Scripture.
One of the main things that has been exposed by this school shut down has been how much of a parent’s responsibility has been handed off to the public schools. Our kids are “learning remotely” but the failure rate is overwhelming. And I know why the students are failing. I mean we can blame a lot of things. We can blame the lack of training on technology, both for the student and the teachers. But the biggest problem is a lack of personal accountability for what these students do. And the reason there is no accountability is because the parents are either absent, apathetic, or ignorant. They are absent, they have to work. They are apathetic, that’s the school’s job to ensure that my child gets an education. They are ignorant. They don’t even know how to look up their child’s grades, or how to help them.
Slowly, over the years, parents, (myself included) have passed the job of education of our kids to someone else. Then along came Covid-19. And whether you agree with school’s going virtual or not, when all school was moved to the computer, that move exposed what had been the situation all along, that many, if not most parents, were not involved at all in their children’s education.
But I want to submit to you that the church is in the same boat with discipleship.
Matthew 28 tells us that our chief responsibility for life in this world is to make disciples. But we have passed off that task to the church. And by the church, I mean the corporate gathering place. The organized meetings. We’ve been living in an era where we thought that discipleship meant going out and gathering a crowd, hosting an event, getting them enrolled in Sunday School, Discipleship training. Let’s get them to church services, let’s get our kids to Vacation Bible School, and Youth Camp.
In other words, making disciples meant, getting them to church. And that included our own children. Discipleship left the home. It was no longer regarded as an individual responsibility.
And then along came Covid-19. Everything shut down. Sunday School, Wednesday activities, Fellowship dinners, youth camp. Now we have had limited success with continuing some of those activities.
But look at where we are. The state has begun to mandate that we not meet. It appears that more is coming. The fear of a virus has reduced our services to Sunday morning, and that in limited number. And we, like our public-school counterparts are discovering that “the students/disciples are failing.”
And it is for the same reasons that our public schools are failing. It is because the home has failed. Discipleship as a personal responsibility for every Christian has been exposed as missing from the life of the church. Spiritually speaking, the Christian home, personal discipleship is absent, apathetic, or ignorant. We don’t do discipleship in the home, in our lives because either we don’t care about it, or we don’t know how to do it.
Of all the things that I’ve mentioned about living in a world that hates us, This one hits me hardest.
If we are going to survive in a world that hates us, we have to double down on all these things; love, forgiveness, the Word of God, and individual discipleship.
Well next time we are going to look at the narrative and the reason, let’s pray.