Disciples who Carry a Load

Will you please turn in your Bibles to the Book of Matthew? The Book of Matthew? It sounds strange not saying the book of Romans. It's been a few years since we have been studying the book of Romans together today. We begin four weeks. What we will look at what it means for us to be disciples and particularly how we how we pursue that project here in Santa Margarita. So, we turn for our lead to the primary passage in which Jesus instructs Us in Matthew chapter, 28, beginning, and verse 18. Can I test if you would please stand, if you are able for the reading of God's word?

The resurrected Jesus says, and then Jesus came and said to them all authority in Heaven and Earth has been given to me go, therefore and Make Disciples of all Nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that. I have commanded you and behold. I Am With You Always to the end of the age.

You may be seated.

I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. That is who makes father your pastor off follow that primary. Identity. I am a disciple and I have been made a disciple by another disciple. Who was made a disciple by another disciple, who has made a disciple by another disciple, who is made to disciple by another disciple. Do you see where I'm going with this and that?

To those that were standing there on that day when the resurrected Jesus says go and make disciples. And what that means is that they go dead and they made disciples, right? Yep. I love reading the stories of Church Father by the name of polycarp because he is identified as a disciple of the Apostle, John. And that just makes my brain go. Right.

That we can actually look back and look at the writings of a disciple of the apostle. in all of us fall into that same line, we read of all the nations to the ends of the Earth in the ends of the age, standing up that date as could be So, making disciples and being disciples is the essence of the Christian faith in practice. But what does that mean? What is a disciple? What does it actually look like in? What are the distinctive about the way that the disciples are made in Santa Margarita Community Church. What is unique to us? I'm just saying it's less than what is unique to us because he doesn't have a right to make its own mission statement. This is the mission of the church. We just reword this to some particular way to what you need to watch as less of this. What then then, then then what is unique to now. Is that we? Grab onto those old forms. Cuz old forms have been successful for 2,000 years. Any new ones depend on the cleverness of some man. And let me tell you. Some of us men take that were pretty. Darn clever, right?

We are raising generations of Christians to be adults. And the way that we do that makes a difference. We we've taught you this before. So if you have not picked up one of the copies of our book Iran worship on the how and why we worship the way we do. I want to read you just a little bit. Remind you that everything.

Hey, every church has Sunday. Practice is it that they repeated every church has forms that they follow every church has a shape. To its worship. Those practices could ever rich Christian tradition, handed down over Generations. On the other hand. The pastor could make them up every week for they can be somewhere in between. This is something that Christians are the past knew quite well, and we need to know it too. We need to know that every church has forms in those practices form us and was certain kind of people, the kind of people we are in Santa Margarita is because we've been shaped, by the way, that we worship. And what I'm saying to you today is the same thing is true for the kind of disciples that we are. The kind of disciples that we are is shaped. By the way that we make disciples. The practices themselves shape us. We are raising generations of Christians. That means we're looking to as a result to have adults at the other end. No, children as you're thinking about what this means adults are something more than just bigger kids, right? Same clothes, only bigger.

At one time. I wish I was traveling with our son and we went to a school to visit in college as he was getting ready to go and same weekend.

And what was? Well, Creepy is probably the right word is that you've got college-age girls and their mothers walking in the street dress. Exactly the same way. Adults are something more than bigger kid, same clothes. There is something of a responsibility that comes with adulthood, the aim of our discipleship is Christian adults who can carry a load that you could, we are raising our kids in such a way. So that we will be able to take a portion of the test that God has given us and put it on their shoulders. So they can carry it along with us this week that we are raising ourselves and our children to be the kind of adults that can take a portion of the responsibility that Jesus is in this place. This is the fourth first of four weeks on discipleship. One week on what three weeks on how. I guess what is Raising adult discipleship? The how will be that? We teach the Christian faith. We trained in person character. And we instructed, Christian Living. Today is what we are raising disciples to carry a load. That is three parts of a sermon today. We're raising disciples, part 1. There is a disciples who that's part 2 in raising disciples who carry low. That's part 3. First. Look Back, The Passage between we start with this. We are raising disciples. So here is Jesus again, the resurrected Jesus coming and speaking to his disciples and he says all authority in Heaven and Earth has been given to me, go, therefore and Make Disciples of all Nations. This word disciples, a familiar word by this point. It's not one that we use other than in this context all that much, but it was there. And then it's usually used as a noun throughout the gospels. That is something that you are. You are a disciple of someone, you are a follower of their teaching and their ways. It it's used of the 12 disciples, quite often. The gospels. It's used as a broader groups are seventy-two of them at one point in the, in the Gospel of John. And then it's used for people were following Jesus, sometime soon as he started the summer Bible. Reading this week. You read through the Gospel of John disciples disciples. And as long as Jesus was performing Miracles that fill their bellies. They were very happy with all that Jesus was doing right? And then when Jesus said no, that's just an example to somewhere and it's not just the bread that you eat in the wine that you drink, but that you've got to eat the body of his death. That he died in order for you to be restored to God when they said that. He said, wait a minute. This is a different kind of thing. And then John 666 as in many of those.

That moment, I found his Jesus turns to the 12 and sickness. That you don't want to leave to do you?

Where we going to go? They said who else has the words of eternal life? Which usually used as a noun, someone who is intent, then on following teaching and the life of a particular teacher? This is the only times where it's used as a verb. Where the disciples are intended to pass on something that they have been given? The wording is used in a similar way in 13:52.

Jesus uses it. This way to describe what's happening with the scribes and Pharisees. He says, therefore every scribe who has been trained for the Kingdom of Heaven, is like a master of a house who brings out of his treasure. What is new and what is old? So, just passing on pieces of the disciples have been given something of value and their intended to turn and give that thing a value on. So it's used as a noun, something. We are and a verb. Something we do. Directions. That is Essence. The disciple is a follower of Jesus, his teaching and his life and then is intended to pass on to others who can follow his teaching and his wife. And then they do it again and then they do it again. It's from polycarp to me.

The expectation of Jesus. And then there for the expectation of Santa Margarita Community Church is that you are and will be a disciple of Jesus. Is that clear enough the expectation? So we don't just run programs and your, wouldn't it be nice if people would show up to the programs and think that we've accomplished the task, when the program is finished? But our expectation of you and of ourselves is that we would actually be and become Disciples of Jesus. All the way that this is one of the things that we are teaching in our creation Camp is that our kids that we see discipleship is all of life includes the ground. You walk on the stewardship. You have the place that you live every single thing. So this is an expectation that we will actually be Disciples of Jesus because we all are always Disciples of someone.

Yeah. In the Gospel of John, we read the first time. The word disciple is used as last week in chapter. One was John the Baptist. They were Disciples of, John the Baptist. So these guys you can imagine what they look like, right? They go from from wild-eyed John in the wilderness and then they go home and their wild-eyed, right? And that will John's. Use it as an outside voice in the crazy clothes leather, belt eating locusts. And wild. Honey, when that eighteen-year-old comes home, mom is going to fit. So they're always Disciples of someone that the Pharisees later on. Say to the man that was born blind who says he's a disciple of Jesus.

So we're always somebody's disciples. We look like we sound like you behave like someone.

For the last fifteen years or so. Part of my responsibilities in our denomination is Ben to help prepare and evaluate those who want to come for licensure or ordination. It would be credentialed in Ministry. And I can tell who they've been reading by the wording that they use. Does that make sense? I can tell, who they been discipled by, by the way, they turn a phrase.

We're all disciples have someone to meet. Let me give you a few examples. in the book of 1st Samuel,

David has been promised that he would be the king of Israel. Now, the cream at the time, by the name of Saul wasn't very happy about this. So while David was living in his house, he had to do everything with his eyes wide open.

Gladys. Going through his midsection, right to finally David wanders off into the Wilderness and about 400 people follow him out there. And the way they are, described as those who were destitute in debt and embittered in Seoul. No, he's got to wait a minute. Just promise that I'm going to be the king who are the people. I'm going to be over the cream of the crop, right? I mean if it got any worse, it would be the 12 disciples.

For us.

Those same bitter Souls. I called Mighty Men of Valor. Right. To take up a sword in an end to feed eight hundred. Men who go down into a pit with a lion on a snowy day. How do you get from bitter soul to Mighty, Man, of Valor? Because someone disciple, do you write That's what happens.

We're introduced in the gospel in the book of Acts to a young man by the name of Timothy. Paul meets him along the way. He had an affair and unbelieving father and he had a believing mother from grandmother who taught him as he grew at the Apostle, Paul finds him at that, right stage and he grows him up, and then later on can say these words, it just When he's planning to send Timothy to the city of Philip II. He says, I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine concern for your welfare. Right? What happened to Timothy? He was disciple by Paul.

There's a story that at least starts out in the exact opposite way for the Apostle, Paul is heading out on a missionary journey and he takes a young man by the name of John, Mark with him John Marks. And he has finished his first year of Seminary. So he thinks he knows everything, but as soon as the things got grown. Te he went home. Right. So the next time, Paul is ready to go out. He will not take this young man with him. But somehow in the process of growing up, something different, something happened to this young man. And at the end of Paul's life, is 2nd Timothy chapter 4. He tells Timothy to bring John Mark with him, because he is very useful to me and Ministry. Right, Samba disciple this young man and he became responsible. He was able to carry a load talk and put part of the burden on him and They carried it together.

Okay, one more. It's not from the scriptures, but I love the way that Pastor voddie baucham speaks in his book about raising daughters. It's a book called what he must be. My daughter. That's good, right? When the young man shows up. Your job may be the bills won. Right now, he is and you helped make him into a responsible disciple. But what you don't do is say I'm sorry. I don't think you want to be one build it you help get in. There are expectations because it is the expectations as participants in the Christian church that we are and will be Disciples of Jesus. Say we will know more grow more and do more year from now that we do right now. That's one of the questions we have to ask is is this than authoritarian? We actually expect it.

No Innocents, is that what we expect is what God clearly said? He expects. That's it.

And what you have committed to in your membership. Vows? We'll get there in just a moment. We talked about that, but you need this. Number one in Santa Margarita is that we expect you to be a disciple. I'll take you at your word that you want to be one. Ansible expected of you.

What are the ways that we made this process is by taking regular attendance by name? That is we every single week, write down your name that you've been here.

Play tension. And we seek to use that to help Shepherd you. Why? Because Lord's Day worship. Is that first big rock in your own practice, as a disciple? It will be. What shapes your life more than anything else. Is that you Worship? The Lord, the ICD said shaking and, you know, it because when they turn to place in Europe, became a priority

Some of you. Our Lives came together outside the church, perhaps in the community until we sit down over something in your life. In my study and one of the first things I did was open up the book to the Book of Genesis and said, we're just going to start all the way to the left. I'm going to show you that the first thing that God did after he made, man and woman, was he brought them to worship and expected them to do that every seven days. If this is how God created us and this is the first of the shaping. So what this means is, you matter, your attendance matters, your name matters. This isn't just checking off the list and add numbers. This is very important to who we are as a church together. First, we are raising disciples followers of Jesus. S, we are raising disciples who?

Still here, we're getting into this character part. Who are we? Look at the way. He words. This inverses 19 and 20 Disciples of all Nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that. I have commanded you.

So disciples are those who have been preached to baptized and taught to obey. Let's just look at these three things for a moment. It says, to preach the gospel. This is important because the scriptures never tell us to do the gospel. Tickets, we can't. The good news is that Jesus has done for us. What we could not do for ourselves.

Jesus has lived a sacrificial death, as a substitute for taking on through preach this gospel. All the way around to the ends of the Earth. People are converted into. That is the first stage of this discipleship process is that we are converted. We are born again, Christians are initiated into the discipleship of Jesus. That's the first part of this and so our first responsibility, Lord's day, after day at your dinner table, every time we gathered midweek is at, We preaching remember this gospel. We preach this gospel. We eat this gospel. Every single Sunday morning. And then it says we baptized that is we take the second of the ordinances that Jesus commanded for his Gathering church. And we initiate into the local Body of Christ. That's what that baptism. Does. If you have not been baptized, we have a class that is coming up soon for a baptism. And we have three who are preparing to be baptized now, and we say, praise the Lord for this. We bring into the church and then teach them to observe all that I have commanded. We are raising up disciples who are the kind of people who observe all that. Jesus has commanded.

I hear that are heaters just went off. If we need to get him. Anybody can just turn it back on. Life in a barn, right? Praise the Lord for this Barn.

Tell me, the kind of people who do all that Jesus has commanded. That is what I'm going to do, right? Let that we're becoming the kind of people who have No Reservations between Jesus commands, and our obedience, that we have determined ahead of time because we believe him that we're going to do everything. He says, in every area of Our Lives. That's the kind of people who we are becoming. So the goal is that you and I become more like Jesus, in our character that we become. The kind of people that when we touch some area of life because we are becoming like Jesus from the inside out. This is the kind of people who you want to carry a load, right? You don't want to put responsibility for something you care about, on a different kind of person. Do you hear me? It we've all been disappointed when we lean on someone and they weren't there. We've all been the kind of people that someone leaned on and wear their. Yeah. But we're growing but growing the goal is that we would become the kind of people who are like Jesus in your following in or being changed along the way you lie changed from the inside out, that what we do is consistent with who we are, so we find is in Jesus, commanded something. And I don't do that something. There is a place for me to grow.

A handful of man. If you don't know who rebuilt the fences at the parsonage and my goodness, did they do a wonderful job? It is a hold of the front of the house. Looks wonderful. The neighbors are thinking us. It's that good.

Frank Whipple came over with the tractor to help Steve and Mike when they were working on this with an auger on it and Jamie came to write. So, and he's got his orange Home, Depot apron. It is green. John Deere gloves and says Dad. I know how to work the auger.

But this is this is what we're talking about, right? That we are becoming. We're following King Jesus with our eighth and we are ready, ready to take part in the projects.

That that you were becoming, but but there are ways and which I am not like Jesus. There are ways in which you are not like Jesus, they come out. When the pressure is on, they come out. When you're tired. They come out. When you're upset, they come out when work is hard, they come out. I guess, I'm pretty sure myself now. Nobody else. You to do is the opportunity in those moments. Could look, it will happen. You will be squeezed. The pressure will be difficult. The heat will be hot and all the sudden what comes out of you looks nothing? Sounds. Nothing smells nothing like Jesus.

But it's at that moment where we could give up, but instead we want to be the kind of people individually, and as a church where we see those opportunities. Lord here is a place where I need to go, please, please, please change me. Brothers and sisters. And say if I stepped on you I repented and I am sorry and this is Mario.

Right. So yes, there are areas in which were unlike Jesus. We need to know where those areas are so that we can change. I've got specific areas written down that I told other people, and an indexed is what we do and this should not change until we die. And then it will change on its own.

We keep up this process of becoming more and more like Jesus uniqueness. Number two, is that we have a goal of you and I being adult disciples camp on what that means in, just a moment. Let me, let me finish going through these three. The expectation is that you will be a disciple in the goal. Was it? You will be an adult disciple.

At one of the ways we help with this is with membership. Membership in a local church is a formal commitment of individual to the church and church to the individual. And some things happen in this process for getting ready to go through this also, but we take the time to do several things. We take the time to teach you in summary form both the belief of the church and the values of the church so that you can take part and participate. So that you know, how and where you might put part of the burden, on your back and carry it with the rest of the congregation membership, is participation in the mission that God has given us. We take that time to clarify it for you. So you know who we are and what we're doing, we take the time to hear you. One of the elders will sit down with you and hear you speak of your faith in Jesus, in your own words. So we can say yes, and amen. To your confession, right? And then, what we do is we take vows. We take vows that have a responsibility that come with him. So you then at the end of that membership, you stand up in front of the congregation and I asked a series of questions. Will you will you and you say I will And from that day forward, the church will hold you accountable. To those vows that you've taken.

And in response to get the whole church making vows back to you. A name of those schools. Is that you? And I will be more like Jesus. We are right now. Yes, that sounds good.

We are raising disciples who carry a load. That's a third part to this year.

And look at me at verse 19 and then we'll finish for the morning.

Go, therefore and Make Disciples of all Nations.

So, this is where Jesus is going with this. The Jesus desires. All the nations from the least to the greatest and everyone in them to obey everything. He's commanded.

No big deal, right?

Patience in the Book of Revelation distinguishes, this word from tribes in tongues. This is a corporate body of people with identifiable structure. This should sound familiar to us because this is exactly what God promised would take place when he made a covenant with Abraham. In the Book of Genesis chapter families of the Earth, all of the nation. So this was fulfilled when Jesus comes to all of us. And so, all of our Lives is given for all of the nation will speak more on this in a few weeks, to come in the, in the fourth of our series on discipleship. And then when we get to speak about this, Outreach in particular and spend some time there that would just be flushing this idea out. But the vision is simply this that we are raising multiple. Durations of adults, declaring Christ lordship so that every person and from the least of the greatest will bow, the knee worship. Jesus is Lord and become like him and character and living like him in the world.

And our responsibility is our Parish. Is the place where God has put us on the earth, so we are taking responsibility to Cheech Santa Margarita, to the dirt.

And this will take 100 years.

Because this will require many more disciples than us, many more Generations than us, and it will require adults, who can carry a load.

I heard of Statistics one time but you can leave the Southern Baptist convention center. Baptist are good at taking statistics. So we have a lot on the Southern Baptist convention, but that it takes on average 16 Southern Baptist life times to make one convert.

That's not moving in the right direction. This is the picking of Southern Baptists, a disc at the statistics. I'm going to other dimensions, not a whole lot better these days. I heard Ben, Marcos the president of new Saint Andrew's, College, safe, 100 years. And forgot all about.

But all we did. Was disciple around children to become Christian adults with the church be bigger or smaller right now.

We are raising adults disciple to carry a load. How do I describe adults in three ways for you? And then we're finished. First, adults are responsible. Second adults are capable and third adults are contributing.

Delta responsible. Is it? They are?

They're taking part of that responsibility because they want to. Play something has changed in them. When a young couple wants to marry, there is a an Evidence of wanting responsibility, right? And our job is not to get there. Right? So when a young couple's, it comes to sit down with me to prepare for marriage and that very first session. I look at the young man and I'm going to read from the book of Ephesians and I'm going to tell him the responsibilities that God puts on a husband. And I'm going to say what we're going to do is we're going to get from where you're sitting right now to the day that you are ready to stand before God and lay down with everybody watching and you're going to make that vow of your whole life before you ever ask for her body.

And his eyes were like this. And that's the right response. If they don't go like this, we got work to do, right?

That is were talking about that, that responsibility. Yes. That's what I want to do, right? First year of marriage, I finished College just after we married and had been working this job all the way through and that ended in. So, I was out of work for a bit of time. We're newly married and now I'm not working. And it was my very first birthday, a week, as a married couple, and to Julie's got these plans. And I get a call in the middle of the afternoon from a tip agency.

I said, yes, I do. I'm a husband. Now, I got responsibilities. Birthdays are one thing responsibilities. Another. This is Hugo and here's the grace of God.

Went all the way through the rest of that Andrew Seminary.

Seminary.

This is not our selves adults are responsible looking for responsibility.

Cinema chairs, you can carry in front of the girls. Get her. See some of the head guilty as charged. This is a generational thing. The coffee was good this morning.

Adults are responsible and adults are capable. They, they are learning to be established in such a way that they can do something effectively. Now, I think I told you that I grew up in a family business, right? So I can print shop. And so, I had this interesting setup where I was being trained on how to be a worker and my boss is where my mom and dad. Interesting Dynamic. First given the responsibility to print in our print shops screen before that. All I did was clean but I get my first opportunity to pull the ink through the press, for this, for the t-shirts. Then you take the T-shirt off the press and you put it on the dryer. The conveyor belt for the dryer and mom is getting them on the other end. Mama could fold t-shirts exactly the same way. Cuz she been doing this so long. So I'm Printing. And Mom is finding the flaws at the other end of the dryer. And every flaw I took personally, there's a spot on the shirt as if somehow, my whole character was depended on this year. But what responsibilities was to fix that spot on the screen where the ink is coming through and don't let that happen again, right? But I had to learn it. But what was gracious about? My parents was that they gave me opportunity and taught me how to carry it, right? And so what we do is we give responsibilities in the church before you're capable.

Can you grow into an adult is to be established that you're capable is your feet or underneath you? You're not tossed back and forth by Winds of doctrine that you know, what you need to know that you are who you need to be, that you do what you need to do. So that when something is given to you, it's effective and fruitful you're capable.

Adult is responsible capable and contributing. Am I this meeting actually doing it right? Don't have to be told. No, it has to set an alarm for you cuz you get up on your own.

Adults are contributing because their owners they taking responsibility for someone or for something. So we live in your parsonage your house. Not ours. You're the owner, sweetheart. But I can say with confidence that the house is a better house now than it was 13 years ago. Because what we don't own it, we live in it like owners because we live with you like owners.

They're hospitable. They're reading Christian books because they want to their leading Lee and worship their participating and leading in the church. They're working hard and being recognized for it. They're training their kids and it shows it right. Adults are responsible for their capable and they're contributing. That is where we're going. That is where we're going over the next few weeks. We will teach you the Christian faith, or at least tell you that, that's what we're doing. Tell you how to train you in Christian character and instruct you in Christian lives so that all of your life can be lived under the lordship of Christ. So what is distinct to this is Santa Margarita Community Church, the expectation. We actually mean it, we want you to be Disciples of Jesus. The god that you would be adults.

That all of our Parish all of the area, by responsibility would come to a place of a banging King Jesus.

That is distinctive and our old forms of teaching training and instruction. See you are a disciple. Jesus is making you like himself and he's preparing you to make disciples. I hope this week and over the next three is that you will want this vision and that you would feel cheated. If anybody offered you, anything less.

The good news is this. Jesus who calls us to be disciples is already the Lord of Heaven and Earth. He is already that we he might perfectly obey the holes off and suffer. The punishment for human sin head because of his divine nature, and his obedience and suffering are perfectly effective. Crayon. We are gaining ground Glory. Hallelujah, the dead are raised. The Lost are found. And so, this passage like all passages lead us to the table of communion. Let's pray together.

Grace is gone and father-daughter one of us was mature when you found us.

Make us the kind of people who celebrate the face of a child. Who received those confessions with great joy and build it into a responsible adult. Would it make us the kind of people who like, adulthood, that alone will set us apart from the world. We live in today. Let us with the Proverbs shouts. That gray is Glory.

Thoughts, we submit ourselves to you into your word. We submit ourselves to the teachers that you have brought to us, the parents that you have given us and to the older sayings that they met in the way. We pray that you give us joy in this Vision along the way. And we pray that you make us fruitful in the church in our homes and in the community, we ask it in the name of Jesus. Who is Lord of raw. Amen. And amen.