Dynamic Discipleship II, The Marks of a Disciple

We're doing our best, and if you're really uncomfortable, tell an usher, and we'll do the best we can. All right, I can see you're sympathetic, let's go on. Luke 14. Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, verse 25, and turning to them, he said, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. You needn't get hung up on the hating the fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters part, just, we'll talk about that at another session. The essence of that verse is that being a disciple of Jesus Christ is serious business. It costs you everything. Now, last week, we began by taking a very brief look at why being a disciple was something we needed to consider. Who remembers the three reasons? These weren't on your outline, but I gave three reasons. Number one, Jesus commanded it, that we're to make disciples of all nations. Number two, your personal fulfillment depended on it. You won't really ever be happy as a Christian if you're just hanging on the periphery. You'll have too much of God to be happy in the world and too much of the world to be happy in God. And that's the state of, sadly, much of the church today. And number three, we said being a disciple was essential because it's part of a vision of our church. You won't be happy at North Way over the long haul if you're not really on the road to being a disciple. It literally is part of our vision statement, which we shared last week. It's in your, you can see it in the visitor's flyer. But our vision, our stated vision, what we tell people is that we want to raise up a local body of disciples of Jesus Christ. And we went ahead and defined that in a little more depth. Now folks, this topic really gets me excited because I recognize one thing. We're living in a day when mediocrity, sort of playing it safe, is the way the world would have us to live. In other words, you can have your religion as long as it doesn't bother me. But the minute you step onto my turf or the minute you express something about your faith that infringes on my space, then we've got trouble. And I want you to know, disciples make trouble. That's what this verse is saying. But it's trouble of a good sort. It's trouble that unsettles people from their comfort zone. And I want to talk tonight really about the essence of discipleship. I want to get down, I want to sort of strip away all the spiritualized terms. How many of you have had lots of background in what you would call biblical discipleship? Let me see your hand. All right, not that many. I didn't mean to frighten you by that, I feel that I don't know. How many really don't know all that much about it? Let me see your hands. Okay. That's the great majority, all right. Let me get down to the essence and then I want to end tonight with the 12 marks of a disciple. Let me recap last week. First of all, take your green outline so you can follow me. Number one, discipleship is a calling. Roman numeral one, the green outline. Discipleship is a calling. From the very outset, it's important that you know that the impetus for discipleship is from God. God called you. Now, the problem is we often have an idea that we chose God. I want you to know that is not the truth. I mean, not initially. You had to respond, but God chose you. God chose Abraham, God chose Moses, He chose Isaiah, He chose the prophets, He chose Paul, and dear one, God chose you. Please get that down from the start. You don't have any right to say that you in the wisdom of your own analysis of life's condition decided that you wanted to follow God. In fact, it's the opposite. God decided in His infinite wisdom to choose you, and that comes from the scripture in John 15, 16. Do we have that on an overhead tonight? I'm not sure if we do. Let me read it to you. John 15, 16. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give to you. Just write down John 15, 16. So you've been chosen by God. Now, folks, how many of you know what it's like to not be chosen? This Sunday, I'm going to be talking about what makes God jealous, and as I've been just preparing and studying this and thinking about the Lord's feelings, what does it feel like to not be chosen? Anyone ever been cut from a drama production here? Anyone ever been cut from an athletic team? Anyone ever been dropped by a boyfriend or girlfriend? There we go. All right. I did a little something that I don't know that I can really accentuate the way I want to. If the folks in the overheads would please get the overhead that has all the dots on it. All right? It should be right there. Take a look at this circle. Take a look at this circle. There are approximately 50 dots in that circle. Those dots represent the five billion people, and as I statistically work things out, and I've shared this with you at least one other time, as I understand it, about one person in 50 in the world is a born-again follower of Jesus Christ. That's about what it works out to be. That means of the 50 dots there, you're the only one that got chosen. Isn't that something? You're the only one. Now, I know it doesn't seem all that special when you're seated next to the other ones. It just so happens in this room we have 400 dots, but please trust me, when you go overseas and you go out into the 900 million pagans of India, or you go down into the 300 million pagans of Central America or whatever it might be, I mean, folks, you are very special. You've been chosen, and that means God has set his love upon you. I want you to know he didn't withhold one thing from you. No matter what your color, your economic background, your educational background, God chose you. Turn to someone and tell them that. Look them right in the eye and say, God chose you, and therefore, you have a special calling. That calling is from God. Now, I once was chosen to represent my university in a particular athletic event, and I was among a group of men that were back then, and there was a special something about being chosen to represent the school. You had more than your own personal career on the line. You had the school's reputation. The Olympians, I guess, best represent that. How many of us heard Olympians give, I'm so proud, they would say, to represent the United States of America? And folks, you've been chosen by God to represent the kingdom of God on this earth. You are an ambassador, and one of the first things that's got to get into your understanding if you're to be a disciple of Jesus is to recognize that you have a special mission from God. Every one of us, and I tend to think a lot of us feel, unless we're a pastor or unless we're doing something, you know, really dramatic, that, well, I'm not all that special. I want you to know you are. It's just a matter of finding that place that God has set you apart to serve. And by the way, you are called, as I say, number one in your outline, to Christ. Is that what it says? What does it say? All right. Let me just qualify. Discipleship is being called, first of all, by Christ. All right? By Christ. Then number two, discipleship is being called to Him. This is very important. You're not just called to adopt a doctrine, folks. You're called to have a relationship. You're called to know a person. I don't know what it does to you, but I'm so glad that we serve a living God, you know, one that we can talk to and relate to and get feedback from in our lives. It's written, recorded, that when Buddha was about to die, his disciples said, How should we best remember you? And Buddha said, Don't bother. It's my teaching, not me, that really counts. Well, you see, discipleship is not a call to the teaching of Christ alone. Higher than that, it's a call to Christ, to knowing Him, to loving Him, to being intimately related to Him, to knowing Him better than you know the spouse or the dearest friend that you might have. Isn't it kind of fascinating that those disciples, a couple days after Jesus had died, were walking on the road to Emmaus? Remember that, Luke 24? They were walking and talking, and Jesus slipped up alongside them. I wish I had a video of that. And what were they talking about? They were talking about Him. Not about His doctrines, not about His teachings. They were talking about Him. And I just want to read it to you, because it's so powerful. They said, Are you a visitor? Are you the only one in Jerusalem who doesn't know the things that have happened these last days? What things, Jesus asked, sort of a loaded question, about Jesus of Nazareth, they replied. He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed from God, and before all the people. And then they talked about Him. Dear ones, I want you to know, you're called to Christ. Not to a doctrinal statement, not to some teaching outline, not to some kind of meditative technique. You're called to a person. And that's an incredibly important thing to keep in mind. And number three, discipleship is being called to obey Christ. Actually, it's letter D now. I'm sorry, letter A being called by Christ, letter C being called to Christ, letter D, discipleship is being called to obey Christ. And I won't get into that one in depth, except to say, I know it's not always easy to obey Him. In fact, Andrew Murray said, it's so hard to believe because it's so hard to obey. It is, it's a challenge to obey. And unfortunately, many of us face those challenges in full. Let me encourage you with something. God is very patient, as we said. And He gives us opportunities to try and to fail. But His word is the basis upon which you can see your behavior change. Chuck Colson, who I respect a great deal as a brother in Christ, and particularly his insightful writings, talked about how when he came out of prison, everyone wanted to know, why did prison change you so much? Those eight months he was in prison. And the reporters say, it was the prison that really changed Chuck Colson. Here's what he said. What radicalized me was not prison, but taking to heart the truths revealed in God's word. For it was the Bible that confronted me with a new awareness of my sin and need for repentance. It was the Bible that caused me to hunger for righteousness and seek holiness. And it was the Bible that called me into fellowship with the suffering of Christ. It is the Bible that continues to challenge my life today. What's going to cause you to obey Christ? It's being confronted with His word daily, daily, daily. And that'll be the power released in you then, to obey Him. Alright, number two. Discipleship is a commandment. Discipleship is a commandment. On the one side, it's a calling for us. On the other side, it's a commandment that we're to share with others. Jesus' words are precise. Go and make disciples of all nations. Just yesterday, I was privileged to attend a pastor's luncheon with about 200 pastors from the city, with a German evangelist whose name you'll hear a lot of. Let's all say it. Reinhard Bonnke. Let's say it. Reinhard Bonnke. Who's never heard of Reinhard Bonnke? Never heard of him? Alright, great majority of you. It's going to be very interesting to watch how the Lord makes His name familiar to you. He is a German-born evangelist to Africa. And an exciting ministry to multiplied millions of people all over the continent of Africa. I can't even begin to tell you the story, but I just want to say one thing. He's coming to Pittsburgh the last day of August, first day of September for a crusade. The first time He's done an American crusade. It's going to be a really interesting thing. Very powerful ministry. And I'm sure that thousands of people will have their lives affected. But how many of you know that the real work of a crusade starts afterwards? I mean, it's great to go forward and make decisions, but the work comes when we make disciples. Jesus never said make converts. Let me just bring this into perspective. Folks, we had 25 converts this past weekend. Yeah, I say praise God as well. 25 people who acknowledged, and many of them came up to get the packets. 25 people. Wow. Now, now we face the challenge. What's going to happen to these people? You know? We say praise the Lord, give a tape, go on out, and yeah, you'll make it, brother. It's like putting a baby newly born on a doorstep and just walking away from it. The challenge is to make disciples. To nurture and to grow them up in the love of God. And folks, that is what we face. That's the mission of the church. Elton Trueblood said the church exists for mission. The church lives for mission as a fire exists by oxygen. In other words, if we're not making disciples, we will burn out. You want to know why a lot of good churches are just dead holes in the wall right now? They lost their mission. And if you want to know why we spend the time, all the time, encouraging you to bring people, reaching out, extending the love of God. You want to know why? We'll die if we don't. And I don't want to die. I want to grow and be all that God wants us to be. The essence of life in Christ is giving away what He's given to us. It's a commandment. I was going to go ahead and dissect that in Matthew 28. You can see it there. There's three active participles, going, teaching, and baptizing. But there really is one imperative. Go and make disciples. Make disciples. May 16th, we have a baptism. I want to share a scary statistic with you. Most of our converts don't get baptized. That's got to change. It's got to change. We need to so nurture people into Christ that they want to be baptized. Because it's not just something for the early church. It's something for our church. And in Roman numeral 3, discipleship is an expression of care. Who remembers what the Lord told us in our first months together? He said, I will do what, Gene Rink? You were there. I will send you as many as you will care for. I believe that is an exciting word from the Lord. That has been a guiding prophecy for those of you who are newer to us. I will send you all that you will care for. And so over the years, we have sought to care as the Lord has enabled us. Here is something I want to challenge you with tonight. You see, care is often interpreted as helping the people who are hurting somehow. Maybe emotionally downtrodden. Maybe physically afflicted. Maybe they are out of work and desperate for food or something. But folks, can I suggest to you that care is more than just addressing those basic physical needs. Care has to do with nurture. Turn to Philippians chapter 2. If you have your Bibles, if you don't, look over on someone's shoulder. Philippians chapter 2. I'm going to move quickly here because I want to get into these 12 marks. Philippians 2, verse 19. I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. Now look at verse 20. I have no one else like him who takes a genuine interest in your welfare. One translation said, no one else who cares for you. For everyone looks out for his own interest but not those of Jesus Christ. Folks, you see, care has to do with looking out for others in the gospel. To me, making disciples is the single clearest expression of care that we can give someone. Home group leaders, when you call your people, when you nurture them and encourage them to grow, when you lead a study and involve them, you are caring for your people. Harvesters, when you go out and make a call in someone's home and sit down with a person and invite them to know more about Christ and more about our church, you're expressing care. Teachers of children, when you go back there and you tell these little ones about God's love for them, his purpose for them, about the spiritual realities of life, you are expressing care. I want you to know care is best expressed in a giving, growing, discipling fashion. I don't know any other way really over the long haul to do it. Alright, so those are the three things that I want to just leave you with from last week. And those issues of discipleship are things that are foundational. Now, very quickly, I'm going to take one minute on each of these and then leave you some time to evaluate where you are. The twelve marks of a disciple. Yes, care is a transfer of life, letter C. Alright? There's more than twelve marks. I chose twelve so you'll remember that they equate with the twelve disciples. Here we go. And may I ask you to consider your life as we go and at the end I have a little exercise for you. Number one, the first mark of a disciple. A disciple is hungry for God. I want to ask you something tonight. Do you find yourself wanting more of God? Or do you basically just function day to day going through the motions and hoping that nothing will go wrong? Do you hunger for Him? How do I know? How many of you know what it's like to be hungry? I mean really hungry. How do you know when you're really hungry? This is your stomach. How about your head? I mean everything tells you I'm hungry, doesn't it? What do you find yourself doing? You're drawn to that refrigerator. You're drawn to that cupboard. You've got to have some food. When you're hungry for God, folks, you're drawn. You're drawn. You're drawn to Him. I just pray tonight. I know I'm not going to be able to do justice to this. But I pray tonight that you'll let God tell you just how hungry you really are. Number two. A disciple is growing in discipline. 1 Corinthians 9.23. Growing in discipline. There Paul talks about the way he disciplined his own life in order to please the Lord. And by the way, folks, I say you're growing because those of us who are maybe a little bit older, over 40, let's say, or so, tend to think, well, we can kick back a little bit now. I want to ask you a question. Are you more disciplined than you were ten years ago or less? Do you spend more time cultivating your walk with the Lord or less? Are you more disciplined in the things that God's called you to, whether it be prayer, reading, sharing, solitude, quiet, fasting? I know for me, I have to tell you, it doesn't get any easier. And I say, Lord, that's all I can do. I can't do anymore. And I went to God, I said, oh, yes, you can do a lot more. You can do a lot more. You just haven't really trusted me yet. And I want to submit to you, if we don't, if you're not growing in discipline, you're falling backwards, all right? Number three. A disciple is one who is teachable. Especially in areas where you've been criticized. Okay, I need to turn the air conditioner on in the center section. A disciple is one who's teachable, who's not something personal. I mean, it's just not going to be them. It's the servants. One who's willing to kind of be hidden to answer the call of God. Number five. A disciple is trustworthy, responsible. Trustworthy and responsible. I want to underscore this, folks. There's a way that we have in our culture, our Christian culture, of agreeing to do something and then not doing it. Do you know what it costs somebody when you say, hey, I'll be there, and you're not there? Do you know who bears the weight when you say, sure, I'll get that ready, and you don't do it? A disciple says, my word is my commitment. Colossians 3.17 is a clear summons to that that the Lord oftentimes reminds me of. And I just want to read it for you because I think it's important to keep it in front of us. This is, okay, here's 1 Corinthians 4.2. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. You must prove faithful. You must keep doing it as the Lord enables you to do it. And a word that's a corollary to that is the word follow-up. A responsible person follows through and does what they are committing to do. All right. Next, number six. A disciple is looking for an opportunity to share. Looking for an opportunity to share. Not passively, but actively. Looking for an opportunity to give the word of life to someone. You know, I've lived in our house almost two and a half years plus. And on occasion, you know, I see my neighbors. Most of my neighbors aren't around much. And just before Easter, my one neighbor was home, and I went over. And I really said, Lord, I want to have an opportunity to invite my neighbor to come to worship us. And, you know, the conversation kind of went that way. I looked for the opportunity. But, you know, when you're a pastor, you're always expecting that people know that you've got some kind of motive here. You know, like... And so you're real sensitive. You don't always think that they're going to be talking about this. And so the opportunity came and went. I went back, and I was really upset with myself. Oh, Lord, I blew it. And they came over and asked about something. I said, this is it. Now, you know, I got it. And, you know, I invited them to come worship with us, and they did. And the Lord reminded me that, you know, if you're not looking for it, it generally won't happen. You've got to be looking. You've got to be actively waiting. Is this person ready? Is this person open to hear about the Lord? A disciple is one who's looking to share. Number seven, a disciple is one who maintains God's priorities. In other words, folks, the devil's strategy for most of you is to wear you out. To wear you out. And a disciple is one who doesn't change priorities every week, but sticks right on. Galatians 2, 7, and 8, Paul talks about it. I wasn't called to do all these different things. I was called to the Gentiles, as Peter was called to the Jews. And we need to just say no to some things. Make some tough choices. Keep on track. Some of us need to say, no more commitments for me. Some of us need to say, I'm going to put all my energies into these three commitments, because they're the most important, and stay on track. Number eight, a disciple is one who is submissive to authority. And I don't know how to even touch that, except to say, that one of the greatest blessings that I've experienced in the life of this church are the people who God has come alongside and said, as you submit, and I don't mean that, and all of you know I don't mean that in some kind of an authoritarian, heavy-handed way, but as you submit in love to one another, the Lord has said that I'm going to raise you up, and He's done that marvelously. And folks, this issue has crushed a lot of churches. I believe it can be a strength. God is the source of all authority. And when we prefer someone as an authority, we're just simply preferring God. And He'll take care of all the repercussions in your own life. Number nine, a disciple is one who is not easily discouraged. Doesn't give up in the first crack. 2 Corinthians 4, 8 through 11. Doesn't say, well, I failed once, I'm not going back. How many times have you had it happen the first time, when you've asked someone, you know, how many times has it worked when you've prayed the first time? I remember we prayed for someone recently to be healed the first time, and they were, we couldn't believe it. Ah, you know, it happens. Something's wrong with the system here, you know. Number 10, a disciple does all things well. There's that Colossians verse. A disciple does all things well. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of Jesus, giving thanks to the Father through Him. Mark 7.37, the Bible says that Jesus did all things well. Write it down, Mark 7.37. Attention to detail, excellence, whether it's in the way you present the gospel, the way you serve the King, your attitudes, vitally important. Number 11, a disciple is learning humility. Are you glad when someone else gets blessed? I mean, are you really glad to see someone else prosper? Or do you say, well, it ought to be me. Humility is the art of learning to rejoice when others are successful. Giving God the glory when you are. Number 12, and finally, a disciple is daring in faith. Daring. A disciple is one who's going to take a step out of the boat. One who's not afraid to be the first one out of the boat. A disciple is not going to hold back and play it safe. A disciple is going to say, God, I'm going all the way here. Jesus is looking for that kind of faith, a daring faith. Now, don't fold it up, don't put it away. No, I'm not done. Turn it over. No, turn it to the side, don't turn it over. Here's what I want you to do. If the overhead people will do this, I have numbers, a numbering system. I want you to rate yourself now. Those of you who didn't fill in the blanks will have a difficult time with this. Here's what I want you to do. No, not that one. There's some numbers that we have. A numbering system. What I decided to do is ask you to apply this teaching this way. I want you to go down that list and give yourself a rating from 1 to 5. Do we have that one, Debbie? Is that it? Okay. One, if you're honest, it's not really happening. I'm not growing in discipline. Number two, rarely, very occasionally, I'm looking for ways to share whatever. Number three, it's somewhat consistent. Number four, it's consistent and growing. In other words, I see it's going in the right direction. I feel really good about it. Number five, it's strong and passionate. I am really throbbing in this particular area of this site. Now, take a minute, would you? Go down that list and put a number beside each one of those in your life. Alongside each one of them. Folks will leave those up in the overhead. Are you hungry for God? Sometimes. Give yourself a 2 then. Are you maintaining God's priorities? And so on. Take a minute. Borrow the pencil from your neighbor if you don't have one. I want everyone to be able to take a moment to evaluate this. If you give yourself a 5 on humility, you're out. But if you rejoice when others are successful, we'll just count that. You know if you do or not. You know if you kind of grind your teeth a bit. Alright? Now a minute or two and then I'm going to give you some totals. Alright? Total them up. If you have 55 or above, you qualify as a potential elder. No, I'm just kidding. You're nearly the fourth person of the Godhead. Alright? If you have 50 or above, you're elder material. If you have 40 or above, you're certainly leadership material. 30 or above. Actually 30 or below, I should say. You're in serious trouble, heading in the wrong direction. 20 or below. You better get up here right at the end of the service and pray. Alright, in all seriousness, folks. We never seem to have time to do justice to these kinds of things. But I want you to take that with you. I feel real strong. I did take some time today to carefully select these 12 items. I want you to pray about them and consider your life. And what God's doing now in your life in these things, okay? Not last year's stuff. In the next week, we're going to talk about what keeps us from being holy gods. Holy, that is entirely His. What keeps us from being able to pay the price? I think it's going to be a teaching that kind of uncovers some of the difficulties that we face. Let's stand together, shall we? Lord, it's a moment that I recognize is simply a step in the process of coming to terms with Your call in our lives. And I do want to ask tonight, Lord, that each of us would take some moments with You to really look at our lives as You do. That we understand the joy of being called by You, Lord. We're not just an accident. You've called me by name. You've called each of these by name, Lord. And I rejoice in that. That You've called us to You, Lord. Not just to a doctrine or some kind of a philosophy. But, Lord, we're called to know You. Lord, we're called to express care, Lord, to people. May we be willing to take a look at ourselves and be faithful in examining our hearts as Your word tells us to do. I pray that, Lord, no matter how mature we think we might be or we might find ourselves this night.