REDEFINED - New Series

Redefined: Discipleship Matt 28:16-20 // September 9, 2018

Introduction:

We just finished a series called Better Together. We are starting a series today

that we could have called Better Together on Steroids but instead we are a calling it Redefined!

Our goal is to go back and rediscover how the Bible has already defined us as

Christians/Believers and that is we as believers are disciples!

a) Acts 11:26

b) Biblically a Christian is a disciple and a disciple is a Christian. They are

the same thing.

c) Disciples are not a special class of Christians who are the Navy Seals of

Christians!

d) The real question is “are we living like a disciple or not?”

In this series we will see that one of our core identifying marks is that of a

disciple, that is who we are not someone to become, and we will learn what implications that has upon our walk with the Lord.

The passage I want to look at this morning is in Matt 28 and is called...

The Great Commission

Context – Jesus had died and had risen again and sent word to the disciples that he

wanted to meet them at a certain mountain in Galilee.

Jesus tells them that all authority in heaven and earth has been given to Him.

He has the right to rule and command everyone in heaven and earth.

Then we find the word therefore which means in light of this authority this is

what we should do!

What Jesus commands us to do, the heart of this mission is found in v19-20

1. The structure of the passage is very simple

a) V19-20 is the command/mission

b) V20b is the promise – promise of His presence with us to carry out this

mission.

c) Read v18-20

The structure of the command is not as clear in the English but it jumps out

to you and slaps you in the face in Greek

a) There is one imperative/command in this passage – make disciples

b) And there are three participles, which define for us the way we make

disciples. (1)

Go – simply evangelism – go and make lost people disciples in every place on earth (2)

Baptize – identify them publically as a disciple of the Triune God (3)

Teach – the lifetime process of a believer growing as a disciple.

So this morning we see a biblical and balanced view of discipleship. Discipleship

redefined is not just something that is done to Christians but also has to do with the non-Christians as well.

Next week I want to redefine just what a disciple is but for this first week in the series, I want to share some of my story over many years as a disciple and what God has been teaching and with what God has been challenging me!

III. Pat’s story as a disciple

My journey of discipleship which can be summarized as a very slow and gradual shift in focus from information to transformation, from materials to people, from teaching to entrusting, from large to small, from programs to a movement, from focusing only upon believers to believers and the lost!

My discipleship journey really started during the early years of my Christian life

while in the military as I got my first taste of the impact a person can have upon you if they get up close to you

A retired pastor named Pop Reed would meet with military men during the

week then have us all over for dinner on Sunday at his house.

a) While he guided me in my early days with wise counsel, he instilled in

me a simple phrase that has guided my life since then and has protected me from much trouble in my early days as a Christian until now. The phrase – “the Spirit of God will never lead contrary to the Word of God”

b) You have no idea how many times that phrase has protected me from

ungodly counsel even from Christians and even from my own thoughts and desires!

In college I was involved in a college ministry that legalistically put pressure

on everyone to shake their head the same way, say the same things and act the same way everyone else did if you were truly spiritual.

a) God used a man named Ron Denison (have you ever heard that name

Rachel Weaver) meeting me every week in the student union to teach me the freedom of grace and uniqueness of me just loving Jesus and being myself!

b) As Rich Klemick would say, “you do you” that is the message that Ron

impressed and me!

As young married man, attending MVC Kim and I approached an elder and

asked him if he would disciple us.

a) We met every Monday night for a few years as we would just open up the Bible every week and he would speak to us out of the word and his life.

b) He is the one who taught us a life-changing pattern of not trying to

squeeze time with God through his word into our busy schedules but rather build your schedule around your time with God. (1)

That turned our spiritual lives, schedules, and activities upside down for the good!

My biggest taste of the impact that a person up close and personal can make

on you came from my predecessor Pastor Bill Johnson.

a) We met every Monday morning for years just talking about our personal

lives, walk with God and ministry.

b) The last few years of his ministry his hearing became so bad that the

heart of my ministry was being his ears for him so I went everyplace he went to serve him in that way.

c) This allowed me to experience the truth we have often heard “some

things are better caught than taught” I saw what life and ministry looked like in flesh and blood through the life of a godly man! Things I learned in Bible college and seminary began to make sense as I watched them lived out in his life and had the chance to talk to him about how they worked for him

So now, it was time for me to try to impact others with discipleship!

1. I developed my own material which I called my “equipping manual” which I

tried to summarize from biblical passages what I thought to be essential to the ministry. I used this to meet with different groups of three men at a time to take them through it. It took me about two years and the goal was to equip these men for ministry.

After that, I became the senior pastor because of the many responsibilities of

preaching, many many managing years

.

and leading a church, discipleship fell to the side for

A few years back, while on the first half of my sabbatical, one of the key

questions that I was considering and praying about was “if there was only one thing that I could not fail at and to focus upon for the rest of my ministry what would it be?”

a) During that time, God deeply impressed upon my heart the need to

disciple. It was because of Mt 28, the Great Commission that He impressed upon me that I need to get back to the mission of making disciples not just preaching sermons on Sunday!

Right after this time God spoke to me through Acts 6:4

a) Read

b) The context of this verse is the widows were being overlooked in the

serving of the food. This is a bold response – we will assign that to someone else because we need to be devoted to and not distracted from prayer and the Word!

c) I learned the lesson between important and vital the hard way

(1)

My shoulder separation (2)

Shoulder separation and heart attack of Jose’s mom

d) Many important things go on at church but two things that are vital and

essential for the church to live healthy it was God’s word and prayer!

e) I felt at that time that I was so busy running the big machine called MVC

church and all the many important things that go into a church. But I had left behind that which is most essential for its long-term health, discipleship - the mission that Jesus gave us!

So when I got back from the sabbatical I started a group of eight men,

primarily younger, that I called an equipping group.

a) We met every other week for about two years and covered some of the

material from my original manual I created and some main teaching from God’s word and some key skills necessary to minister.

We had some very exciting and stimulating discussions but I was feeling

deep inside that something was missing but not sure what it was. I felt it was not accomplishing what I had hoped for two reasons:

a) First, eight men is too many to get close to and make any real personal

impact in their lives.

b) Secondly, I realized that I was teaching these men the truth but I was not

entrusting to them the truth. Entrusting means, “to commit something to the care of someone else so that now they become responsible for it.”

c) Read 2 Timothy 2:2

(1)

I realized I was teaching them but I was not sharing with them the vision that they are now responsible for these truths to pass on to other faithful men who could pass it on to others. (2)

It was more than “here are the teachings now go and be blessed” now it’s “here are the teachings now go and bless someone else with them!”

So then I decided to start a group with two of men that was structured in such a

way that we could “entrust” truths to them they could pass on to others.

There were three of us who each recruited three other men. We met together

as twelve to learn the basic truths

Then we each met separately with our three so we could do a bit more of the

life on life and not just large group teaching.

Then through the Great Commission God impressed upon me that just as big of a part of discipleship is bringing the gospel to the lost and not just focusing on developing the believer.

So God started to grow a greater sensitivity in my heart to the lost

Since that time, I worked with a small group of elders to develop some

materials to share the gospel with the lost and some material we could use to train believers to reach the lost.

So I trained some people who could train others and we began a series of

small groups where we could learn more about sharing the gospel and our testimony!

F. The last number of years I have been meeting with three men as we together have

been gaining a greater vision for discipleship as Jesus taught it and allowing our lives and walk to rub off on one another and seeking to impact others!

Now my heart and the heart of the staff and boards is for MVC to become a

culture of discipleship where everyone is a disciple who seeks to impact others, both lost and believers for Jesus Christ!

So in this series

I hope to:

Clear up some of the modern day confusion about discipleship and from the Bible redefine just what a disciple is, that is who we are as believers and what we do according to the mission Jesus gave us to make disciples! There are very few topics more central to our lives and church.

Secondly, I hope that the Spirit of God will take the word of God and write it so

deeply upon our lives that we become a church of disciples of Jesus who intentionally and relationally make other disciples of Jesus!