By Rev.
Brian Wilkie
Pastor of St. Andrew's Christian Community
Rockland, Ontario
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PODCAST LINK to CFRA
broadcast - Sunday, August 4th, 2013:
http://proxy.autopod.ca/podcasts/chum/6/15014/good_news_064_aug04.mp3
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Broadcast Notes:
Broadcast Notes:
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‘Discipleship’ - Part 2
Welcome to Good News In The Morning a program of words and
music bringing a Christian message of hope and courage to those who are looking
for an intelligent, meaningful and spirited approach to faith and to life.
This
program is sponsored by Good News Christian Ministries, Box 184, Rideau Ferry,
Ontario K0G 1W0 and this is Brian Wilkie speaking. Thank you to all our
listeners. We are grateful for your encouragement and support. Remember that
you can always visit our website, GoodNewsChristianMinistries.ca, for materials
to encourage and support you in your Christian walk.
Today,
I would like to speak to you on the second part of a message about the Great
Commission, the call of God to make disciples.
Now the scripture, again from last week, is Matthew 28:16- 20 and I’m
going to read it again to keep it fresh in our minds.
“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 that have
commanded you to do. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of
the age.”
We
began last week by just taking a look at the scope of discipleship, how
discipleship is woven throughout the whole of scripture, from the old testament
through the new. That God is training up people in holiness and service to know
him, to worship him and to carry the
message to the world.
We
talked last week about how a “mathetes” ,
a disciple, is not just a student at a desk compiling information to pass an
exam, but a learner, a disciple and someone following and doing, as well
learning the important facts. Again,
last week, we had that brief history, this week we’re going to talk about, ”who’s
training who?” And as we explore this theme, we’re going to talk about our role
in being disciples and our role in making disciples.
But
first let’s listen to the song which reminds us of the great love of God in
Jesus Christ, because that’s the root of all our discipleship.
And,
so here’s the song, again from the a-cappella singers, This Hope: Of the
Fathers Love Begotten.
|
"Of the Father's Love Begotten"
Of the Father’s love begotten Oh,
that birth forever blessed
Ere
the world began to be,
When the Virgin, full of grace
He
is Alpha and Omega, By
the Holy Ghost conceiving
He
the source, the Ending He, Bare
the Savior of our race,
Of
the things that are, that have been, And
the Babe, the world's Redeemer
And
that future years shall see First
revealed His sacred face
Evermore and
evermore. Evermore
and evermore
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As
we think about Christ’s Great Commission to his people, to his disciples on
that mountaintop, what is the commission?
What is he telling us to do? What is the focus of this Commission? The
focus really seems to be to make disciples, by teaching them all that Jesus has
commanded them to do. Everything that
Jesus taught them to do, they are to do as disciples of disciples. Now discipleship is described in extremely
huge terms in this Commission, because Jesus talks about making disciples from
all nations. The disciples are going to come from every nation, every tongue
and tribe, all the people of the earth, from every people group and from every
place. We see that summed up in the book of Revelation when the culmination of
this Great Commission is to see a gathering of a multitude without number that
are praising and glorifying God because the Great Commission brought the gospel
to them.
So
the work of discipleship is definitely going to include the missionary extension
of the gospel into other lands. Into places where it has never been heard, into
different languages which we don’t yet understand. And that work is going on with great effort
and great dedication. Many people making
huge sacrifices, laying down their lives daily for Jesus Christ in the mission
field. But most of us are in our own
hometowns. We’re living in our own
houses. We have a place to lay down our
heads unlike some of our missionaries
who are going from place to place and not in security. We find ourselves in a
familiar place. But Jesus, in giving us
this Great Commission, tells us that wherever we are, we are in a mission
field.
Isn’t
that true? Do you have to look very far to find someone who doesn’t know Jesus
Christ?
Do
you have to look far afield to find a young person that is trying to understand
what it means to follow Jesus? Do you
even have to look outside of your own age range, your own demographic, to find
someone, like you, who is needing to grow more in their faith, needing some
help and encouragement, struggling with sin, and trying to find out how God is
going to help them along the way. So let’s
remember the missionary call that is to
all the earth. Even the parts of the earth that are right next-door.
And
the Commission is also for baptized disciples.
I’m not about to launch into a debate about the method of baptism, but I
do want to touch on part of the meaning of baptism, as expressed in the Great
Commission. God wants his follower to
be baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Doesn’t this point us to the need for the
disciples to be immersed, first and foremost, in the reality of who God is?
Wouldn’t it be a disaster if we created a bunch of good, well mannered,
obedient, citizens, who had no clue about the one true God, who is Father, Son
and Holy Spirit? If they had general
notions about God that were enough to give them guilt if they disobeyed and
fear of punishment, but didn’t give them
the capacity to worship the living God in Spirit and truth.
Disciples
are followers of a personal God. Not merely followers of a law of “do or do
not”. Moreover, baptism is a cleansing
of sin. A death to self, and living to
God: To God our Father through his Son
Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit.
As we teach one another to do all that Jesus has commanded us to do, we
must not neglect the fundamental command.
Love the Lord your God with your whole heart, mind, soul and strength.
There
is a Great Commission to make people aware of the Glory of God. That they might have the joy, the life and
the new birth that Jesus Christ has provided.
To do what Jesus has taught us to do includes worship. It includes drawing near to Jesus, to God, to
draw near in confidence knowing that our sins are forgiven, and that God has an
eternal, glorious plan for our life.
Now
we’ll get to more about this task of discipling each other and the opportunity
to disciple to one another in a few more moments. But I’d like you to listen with me to another
song. This is a song that speaks of that
glorious hope of eternity, which is part of the good news we have to pass on to
disciples. It’s a song, an old spiritual, sung this time by Steve and Sara Bell and it’s called
“I’ll fly away”.
I’ll Fly Away by Steve and Sarah Bell
Some glad morning when this
life is o'er
I'll fly away
To a home on God's celestial shore
I'll fly away
I'll fly away
To a home on God's celestial shore
I'll fly away
I'll fly away O glory
I'll fly away
When I die Halleluiah bye and bye
I’ll fly away
I'll fly away
When I die Halleluiah bye and bye
I’ll fly away
When the shadow of this life is
gone
I'll fly away
Like a bird from prison walls are flown
I'll fly away
I'll fly away
Like a bird from prison walls are flown
I'll fly away
I'll fly away O glory
I'll fly away
When I die Halleluiah bye and bye
I'll fly away
Just a few more weary days and then
I'll fly away
To a home where joy will never end
I'll fly away
I'll fly away
When I die Halleluiah bye and bye
I'll fly away
Just a few more weary days and then
I'll fly away
To a home where joy will never end
I'll fly away
I'll fly away O glory
I'll fly away
When I die Halleluiah bye and bye
I'll fly away
I'll fly away
When I die Halleluiah bye and bye
I'll fly away
There
are two sides to the Great Commission because we cannot disciple others until
we’ve been trained ourselves. Now the
two go together. Part of our training as disciples of God, is found in training
others. I’ll give an example of that:
back when I was in high school, a few years ago, the best mark I ever got in
high school came from a class where a good friend was repeating the
course. She’d been having a great deal
of difficulty with it the first time around and because I was better at science
and that sort of thing (which was the course at stake), I sat with her throughout the year, and while
the teacher was teaching the lesson and while we were doing our exercises, I
would be constantly helping her to understand, and answering her questions. The
teacher gave us a lot of leeway in that, because I was often talking to her
while he was talking to the class. But
he knew that there was some real learning going on. She actually passed the course, I’m glad to
say, and I got the best grade I’d ever had, because I learned it so thoroughly
as I taught her.
I
want to ask a question. Who is teaching you? Who do you have in your life that
is speaking into your life about the word of God? Now I know you’re listening
to Good News in the Morning, and that’s one set of voices, the four of us:
Brent, and George, and Juliet and myself. You’re allowing us to speak the word
of God into your life and that’s wonderful.
But we certainly hope and we pray every week that you are going to a
church where there’s a pastor that is teaching you as well. Or perhaps more than one pastor. In fact, I’m concerned that so many people
have only one person giving them discipleship in their life. One great way to limit your learning is to
wait until an over-worked, harried person who is expected to provide
discipleship, care, leadership and administrative service to tens, or maybe
hundreds of people is ready to give you some time. The amount of time you can expect from your
pastor is always going to be limited.
So, who else are you turning to? Or are you satisfied just to get a
little dribble once a week at church, or perhaps another time at a bible study.
Are you finding out other ways to learn and to practice and to engage in your
relationship with God through Jesus Christ?
Do
you read? Do you listen to other radio shows?
Do you take something from other teachers and compare it to the Word of
God and thereby learn and grow? Some
people like to say that they have one book, the Bible. And that’s a great
position to be in. I have one book, the Bible, but God has shown in the bible
how many councillors help to make good disciples. He shows how his servants like Paul, and
Peter, and James and Jude, and all the council of Jerusalem, and the teachers
and elders from different churches, all contribute to the discipleship of his
people, To their growth and holiness.
And when I read a book, I don’t look at another book as some authority
that I must listen to. When I read C.S.
Lewis or Dietrich Bonheoffer, one of the old church fathers, or sermons of
Spurgeon or Wesley; whenever I read any of these things, I count them as a
brother or a sister who has been learning from God and is passing on what they
have learned to me. Sometimes they have
been right so often that they have a certain amount of authority with me. But
all the time when you’re reading, you’re learning from another brother or
sister. They might make some mistakes
along the way, you pray for discernment, and you compare what they write with
scriptures. But you don’t throw out the
baby with the bath water if you find one mistake.
Do you have other teachers? Do you have friends that you actually talk to about
spiritual things? People who are at
about the same place as you; where there is a kind of “peer to peer”
relationship; where you learn from each other, you correct each other, you
bless each other, you encourage each other? Do you have such friends? And do
you have elders?
People who you
recognize as having gone far into the faith and having wisdom to give and to
pass unto you. Do you have prayer partners?
Do you have accountability partners who help you maintain holiness? There’s so much richness that you can have in
your training process with God. This
makes it easier to make progress instead of, as so often we do, pounding our
head against the same wall forever and ever.
Progress in the faith is a great gift that God gives us through this
discipleship process. Do you know that as
you make this a priority in your life, you’re already setting an example for
others? You’re already giving – without
making a show of it –you’re already giving a demonstration of what it is to
really put God first in your life.
I’m
so privileged that on a weekly basis that I’m able to meet with another group
of pastors. A number whom are retired and they’ve been through all the battles
of pastoring and all the joys of pastoring, and I feel – though I’m nearly 50
years of age – I feel like a Timothy sitting at the feet of apostles who have
experienced so much, and have so much rich wisdom from God to share.
I’m
also am able to go to conferences and hear from others that have been in the
trenches of sharing the gospel with a world that isn’t always happy to receive
it. I’m learning to be encouraged, and
not to give up because I have seen others who have persevered. There’s so much to learn. Who is teaching you?
And now to the other question. Who are you teaching? It was at a conference recently that I was
sort of refreshed in this Great Commission idea by a pastor from Dallas Texas
named Tommy Nelson. He so strongly spoke
about the Great Commission, being a commission not to the church as a whole
only, but as a Great Commission to each one of the disciples.
How
often have you listened to a sermon and you thought, “I’m glad the pastor is
telling all of them that”, and then you realized that maybe he was talking to
you as well. Do you think any of the
disciples up on the mountain, some of whom worshipped and some of whom doubted,
were thinking, “Oh! He’s telling them they ought to go and make disciples.” And
then perhaps later in the evening, the penny dropped and they asked themselves,
“maybe he’s telling me to go and make disciples.”
I
can tell you. Jesus is telling each
believer, each follower of him, to go and help other people to follow as well.
Biblically
we have examples of leadership in the family, of helping children or your
spouse. Even sometimes children setting the example for parents, so that faith
can grow in the home. You also have
co-workers. Everyone one of them needs Jesus Christ. Some of them might already be going to a
church somewhere, and you haven’t talked about your faith enough to encourage
them to speak about theirs. But you may find that God has placed among your
co-workers, people who also want to grow in faith. Are you pouring some of the wisdom God’s
given you, some of the questions and some of the answers into somebody else’s
life? A young Christian? Not just
through a program like Sunday School or bible study, but through actually
developing a mentoring relationship; a friendship, a teaching friendship with
another searching soul.
There
are times when you’re the one being taught.
There are times when people can teach each other, and there are times
when you’re the one who’s looked upon as the one who has some experience, some
knowledge of scriptures.
God
has a great plan and a great command.
This Great Commission is joyful to fulfill. As you obey in the area of
training and encouraging others, he will be training and encouraging you. There comes a point when the only way to
continue your growth in holiness is to start to obey this command and help
others to grow.
So who are you teaching? Who is there around you that you can turn
into a person that is able to benefit from something God has taught you?
Let’s
pray to God about this,
“Almighty God, Lord help us to see
the opportunities you have given us.
Help us to be discipled, and to disciple others. Jesus has been given all authority on Heaven
and on earth, and he is with us to fulfil this command in us, and so we thank
you in his name. Amen.”
And
I want to thank you listeners, for your encouragement, prayers and financial
support. You keep us on the air week by
week. So if you can, please continue to pray for us, and if possible make a
donation payable to- Good News Christian Ministries, and send it to box 184,
Rideau Ferry Ontario, K0G 1W0.
We
will send you a receipt at income tax time.
Please also tell others about this program and don’t forget to visit our
website. You can find several of our programs available on pod casts, and a
series of devotions written by our founding preacher, the Reverend Dr. Allan
Churchill.
Be
sure to worship in a church where the gospel is soundly proclaimed and lived
out with compassion, integrity and resolve.
And
I hope that your life will be filled with prayer. Prayer that is coming close to God, as you
have your heart and your mind personally caught up in the love of Jesus
Christ.
May
the Holy Spirit reside deep within your heart and may the heavenly Father surround
you with his constant and abiding and accompanying love.
- Rev. Brian Wilkie
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