Full-Orbed Disciple Making

Like Jesus • Sermon • Submitted 4 years ago

0 ratings

· 40 views

Disciple making happens “out of my love for God, using my gifts and talents, to multiply the character and priorities of Christ in as many people as possible.” This is the high goal for this life. From full-orbed discipleship lives are forever changed. From here, darkness falls and the light comes. From here, world-changing movement are started, from here, the lost find Jesus. From here, our deepest calling and the world’s deepest needs collide in the love and life of God. Let’s commit to take a step deeper into following Jesus.

Notes

Transcript

Handout

[slide] 4 Chairs Review

We’ve been discussing the four chairs for several weeks, and we’ve finally come to the end of this series.

We’ve introduced this idea as a way of understanding Jesus’ ministry. We’ve looked at the importance of Jesus’ humanity which means his life is accessible to us. We’ve repeatedly gone over each chair. Provided countless analogies. We’ve talked about barriers, sticking points, and now we come to the end.

But here’s the question - what fruit has it borne? Have the majority of us grown?

Have we moved? Have we made any decisions that have led us deeper into living like Jesus.

We’ve repeatedly gone over each chair. Provided countless analogies.

But have we moved

Have we moved?

In the last 10 weeks, are we living in more or less Like Jesus?

We heard from Dan Spader that there are three things that can keep us from movement -

Some of the problems that keep us from whole-life disciple making:

Busy, Burnt Out, Bitter

[slide] 4 Chairs Review

We are in a series called, “Like Jesus.” We want to live the life Jesus lived. We aren’t content with just talking about Jesus - or just having the right ideas about Jesus; but to actually develop a rhythm of life and a rhythm of church that looks more and more like Jesus. This year we are particularly focused on his mission. We understand that Jesus developed his disciples in four stages.

Chair one is the seeker, curious type.

Chair two is the believer,

Chair three is the worker,

Chair four is the parent - the disciple-maker

Chair four the friend of Jesus, the lover, who is replicating their life in someone else

Have we moved?

We’ve been discussing the four chairs for several weeks, and we’ve finally come to the end of this series.

There are three barriers

But here’s the question - what fruit has it borne? Have the majority of us grown?

asdsad asd as

Have we moved? Have we made any decisions that have led us deeper into living like Jesus.

Have we moved?

Philippians 4:12–13 ESV

I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

In the last 10 weeks, are we living in more or less Like Jesus?

We heard from Dan Spader that there are three things that can keep us from movement -

1 Thessalonians 1:5–6 ESV

because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit,

Busy, Burnt Out, Bitter

“It’s not until we walk as Jesus walked that we will get to do the things Jesus did.”

It’s not until we walk as Jesus walked that we will get to do the things Jesus did.

If I am being honest - I’ve gained a little weight in 10 weeks, I struggle with similar habits as 10 weeks ago, and despite buying a vacuum and using it twice, my wife still feels that I could help a little more around the house.

But what I do have is an increased focus on investing deeply in people - I can honestly say that I’ve made new friendships and gone deeper.

I have a lot to learn before I help others bear more and much fruit.

“It’s not until we walk as Jesus walked that we will get to do the things Jesus did.”

[Transition] What did Jesus do that was ground breaking for the early church?

Then there is another who is chief of distraction - who wants nothing more than for us to talk about fruit more than actually bear it.

This other one is called in the Bible - the Prince of the Power of the Air. We understand him as the the Enemy - the Accuser - the one who loves hatred, who deceives you with lies.

I am not trying to scare you - I am trying to say that this world has a problem - and it’s the very personal force of hatred that seeks to impose its will on us.

From Above-Below to Family

The term disciple is used 250 different types in the gospels. It was an ancient term - Plato had disciples, John had disciples, Pharisees had disciples.

May God help you multiply the impact of your life.

The term disciple is used 250 different types in the gospels. It was an ancient term - Plato had disciples, John had disciples, Pharisees had disciples.

And disciples-teacher system was very top down - the Rabbi or the Teacher would instruct the disciple in everything they knew. The teacher knew the information the disciple wanted to learn - therefore disciple literally means learner.

But Spader describes how the word disciple vanishes after - it is replaced by Christian, Followers of the Way - Spader believes that this elimination of the word disciple was not just a change in words but it represented a new “disciple-making system.”

[slide]

In place of the old above-below relationship of the master and student, Jesus established a family environment called the church. - Dan Spader

The chairs around a table - this discipleship is meant to happen in the context of a church, where everyone learns from one another.

I learn just as much from chair 1 seekers about perspectives, we need the questions, the wonder, the hope and excitement of chair 2 believers.

Discipleship is the work of the church

it’s not necessarily the work of 2 people in a coffee shop that meets weekly, though this is good and part of what it means to have life together, it should be a table full of people in different stages, learning from one another. Not just a teacher and a learner but mutual feedback, respect, and listening.

I can honestly say that I’ve made new friendships and gone deeper. x2

David Ziel - this is the church - our meeting of the church.

[slide]

I have found through the years that if you only champion discipling you may not end up talking about Jesus. But if you champion Jesus, you always end up talking about making disciples! -Dan Spader

[Transition] So we unapologetically talk a lot about Jesus. But there is one that opposes Jesus.

The Enemy

The Apostle Paul warns us that we do not fight against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers.

But there is one that opposes Jesus. The Apostle Paul warns us that we do not fight against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers.

The enemy understands that this life’s impact goes on for eternity. Eternity is a then idea - it’s later. But TODAY - ETERNITY, THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS IN OUR MIDST - and it today what we do ripples for eternity.

When does the Kingdom begin? It’s in your midst

What we believe, how we live - all of this has eternal impact. And the enemy would do all that the enemy can to distract us from making a positive eternal impact.

Goal: ushing everyone to the rally

There is an enemy who would love nothing more than to distract us. One of his distractions might be the perception of our own acceptibility.

Goal: pushing everyone to the rally

How would the enemy attack the church?

Blatant sins would obviously stop us, but there is something even more subtle, and dangerous.

Theologian C.S. Lewis wrote a book called Screwtape Letters which is a fictional account of an older demon, Screwtape, writing to his apprentice, Wormwood, in how to lead his assignment astray. Screwtape is discipling to make a better devil. He is a chair 4 demon helping a chair 3

[slide]

“It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one--the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.” CS Lewis

The attacks of the enemy are disguised in pleasantries, in good intentions, in the safe gradual road to a life that looks nothing like Jesus.

[Transition] How would the enemy attack the church or Christians?

How would the enemy attack the church or Christians?

Frame it around the enemy:

The 2 subtle ways that the enemy is deceiving the church is making the gospels about our needs.

How would the enemy attack the church?

It does not matter how small the sins are, but that its cumulative effect . . . the gradual slope to hell.

The 2 subtle ways that the enemy is deceiving the church is making the gospels about our needs.

The Enemy’s First Lie Me-centered Gospel

All the 11 weeks have come to this - it may have been a top-down approach for what you need to live a successful life.

This is the cancer of Christianity.

“Once you have made the World an end, and faith a means, you have almost won your man, and it makes very little difference what kind of worldly end he is pursuing. Provided that meetings, pamphlets, policies, movements, causes, and crusades, matter more to him than prayers and sacraments and charity, he is ours—and the more ‘religious’ (on those terms) the more securely ours”. CS Lewis

The me-centered gospel is too easily defined as the prosperity gospel. The prosperity gospel, at it’s root, says that God intends to bless everyone and that blessing comes in the form of wealth. If you have not solid health and wealth - well then you’re missing something from God.

But the me-centered gospel can just as easily be disguised in pamphlets, policies, politics, movements, causes.

The me-centered gospel is when we have made the world an end, and faith a means.

The question we ask - and preachers like me do it all the time - what can we do for you - like I am taking an order and bringing it

Story of a Friend (Harsha)

Who accepted Jesus, joined the Catholic Church, because Jesus was the means for social reform from the ills of a democratic society.

“Jesus is the map to the treasure” on our sign. Subtle - because Jesus is the treasure.

“Prosperity knits a man to the World. He feels that he is ‘finding his place in it’, while really it is finding its place in him.”

Prosperity can often take our minds off of eternity.

A business owner told me “me we make our worst decisions when everything is going well.”

“Jesus is the map to the treasure” on our sign. Subtle - because Jesus is the treasure.

Whether you’re low or whether you’re abounding. The secret to destroying the me-centered prosperity Gospel is in

Philippians 4:12–13 ESV

[slide- picture] Steph Curry has destroyed this verse.

Jesus is our strength - therefore, whether we have plenty or want, in every circumstance - Jesus enables us to follow Him through it all.

[Transition] Now there is another way the enemy distracts us from living the Jesus life.

The Enemy’s second lie - information but no transformation.

second lie - information but now power.

1 Thessalonians 1:5–6 ESV

Once you have made - words and power - we are obsessed with words, and people like my words when i preach, but are still neglecting their spouses, we are still living the same way we have always lived.

- once you have made - words and power - we are obsessed with words, and people like my words when i preach, but are still neglecting their spouses

1 Thessalonians 1:5–6 ESV

The effectiveness of the gospel is not because it is eloquently presented.

This is what made JESUS MAD about the Pharisees.

Wormwood’s

I wonder if eloquence is actually a distraction.

[slide] The gospel is not the presentation of an idea, but the operation of a power. - Anders Nygren, Theologian

Do you want to be deceived, or entertained, or do you want to move?

Anger - is not powerful - it’s only skin deep - if you stare at Anger for any length of time, it begins to

Where does this power come from? What force or muscles are accountable for the power of the gospel?

I am preaching to myself here - stop defaulting entertainment. How much time did you spend being entertained, and how much time did you consider God and Neighbor and those you love?

Have we moved?

We’ve been discussing the four chairs for several weeks, and we’ve finally come to the end of this series.

But here’s the question - what fruit has it borne? Have the majority of us grown?

Have we moved? Have we made any decisions that have led us deeper into living like Jesus.

In the last 10 weeks, are we living in more or less Like Jesus?

We heard from Dan Spader that there are three things that can keep us from movement -

Busy, Burnt Out, Bitter

But what I do have is an increased focus on investing deeply in people - I can honestly say that I’ve made new friendships and gone deeper.

I have a lot to learn before I help others bear more and much fruit.

[transition] Where does this power come from?

We need the Holy Spirit -

and i know no better way than to listen and pray.

Do you want to be deceived, entertained, or do you want to move?

The Spirit of God is what moves us. How is this power unleashed when we listen and pray - what can I expect? What would it look like if this power was unleashed?

(illustration) Let’s consider - the power of love. I know people, who are too busy to do x, y, z for the church, but when they meet a girl - their is rearranged, reordered, immediately .

I think it looks like a Lover.

it’s then that we’ll become “imitators of the apostles and of the LORD, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit.”

ROOTSTOCK - every time you tend to this plant - it should remind you of who you are tending too and with.

ROOTSTOCK - every time you tend to this plant - it should remind you of who you are tending too.